


Children of the Darker Shore

by tsukkuyomi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bullying, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Gen, Mental Illness, Mental Instability, Physical Abuse, a what if sort of thing, also what was that cloth from the limo anyway, alternative universe of canon, among other major and minor changes, and NO ONE calls Evie she's not a princess, audrey is with ben because canon, but ben is so sincere, candy for everyone, child molestation, cruella is a bitch, fgm is so annoying, for now, gil is a good boy, harry driven violence, hook and gaston are assholes, it's Uma who gets sent to Auradon, laying the groundwork for some important relationships, maleficent is a bitch, much violence, only one, people are scared of magic when they've never seen it, the first two chapters will be basically build up to the actual going to Auradon, time skip, uma loves her crew, where instead of Mal, why is jafar the only good parent, will tag the serious issues as they come up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 01:37:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11910516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsukkuyomi/pseuds/tsukkuyomi
Summary: After twenty years of keeping the Isle and the mainland separate, the son of Beast and Belle, rulers of Auradon, decrees that a group of kids will come to Auradon for schooling. His intentions are good, his heart is kind, the result is a story that is unlike any other told before and any that would be told after.Instead of a dark faerie's daughter, he invites a sea witch's spawn; instead of a group of four semi-friends, he calls forth a gathering of six, some not so friends, some more like family, with scars and secrets to challenge Auradon and it's laws, it's beliefs, it's prejudices and it's happily ever afters. They expected villain kids, they expected punks, lowlife hoods; they got so, so much more.





	1. Prologue: Before the Day, The Twilight Glowed

**Author's Note:**

> (So this basically started with me watching Descendants 2 with some people on Tumblr. Eventually the idea of Uma being in Mal's place in the first movie and how much better that would be got floated and I've been toying with it ever since. This first chapter is a prologue as noted in the tags; as anyone who has read the third of the novels, Rise of the Isle of the Lost, knows Uma and Mal were originally friends until an incident that ended with Uma getting rotten shrimp dumped on her by Mal and getting dubbed "Shrimpy". Having read, and having other ideas too (like about Evie's "exile" on the island because of Mal and her mom), I thought "What if....  
> "What if Uma ran from the docks afterwards?  
> "What if she ran into town?  
> "What if six year old Mal's victim and nine year old Mal's victim met?  
> "How interesting that might be."  
> And thus this was born too. I'm working on the next chapter already, hopefully it will come out soon. But until then I hope you enjoy this story of the girl who would be a pirate queen on one of the worst days of her life....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prologue One: A little girl changes the course of history, by running towards the ends of her home instead of staying where she is.

Uma wasn't sure which was worse: the stench or the name. On one hand she smelled of rotten shrimp and it wasn't simply frustrating; it was humiliating and demeaning and disgusting. There was the fact that it was because of someone she thought of as a friend, something that may seem foolish on the Isle but honestly how could a child, a mere nine year old be expected to be anything but? It was natural enough for a kid, even the offspring of a villain, to desire companionship, an ally on the Isle of the Lost and Damned, the unwanted of Auradon. And it was that that made the name so much worse; it was not simply in being called Shrimpy, laughed at by Mal who only seconds before Uma had been in a panic over the possibility of seeing drown in the waters off the dock, but that it was by someone who in all her childhood naiveté she had trusted even a little. Her friend, what a joke.

The tiny sea witchling had run from the docks, away from the evil little half-fae with her laughter, away from the fish and chip shop she called home, away into the deeper parts of the populated Isle; she liked to believe she wasn't really that upset, just angry. That her shaking bones were from frustration, that the tears billowing up in her eyes were from indignation, and that she ran so far and as fast as her young legs could possibly carry her because...because.... Ursula's daughter didn't cry, and she didn't feel hurt by cruelty. Not when that was the norm on the Isle; be cruel, not kind, be mean, not nice. Mal did what all “bad” children on the Isle should; Uma had been a fool to trust her.

But she'd also been a fool to let herself run without thinking where she wanted to go. The area she found herself in was not one she knew and she frowned to herself, looking around and behind her at the road that lay at her feet. As always the sky above was dark with clouds and there were trees, or rather the dark skeletons of trees, lining the path; it seemed to be rather far from town, which truth be told, smelling as she did she was not exactly about to complain about. She had managed to wash some of the shrimp off, having jumped into the water back at the docks in hopes of getting the shrimp off her, but the smell lingered and Uma feared it might linger forever. Then she might end up being Shrimpy forever too. But that was honestly not the biggest thing on her mind right now; she was more curious where she was right now and continued to walk down the barely flattened ground that constituted a road on the Isle.

It wasn't like she spent her entire life near the shorelines of the Isle; yes she lived in the docks and she was the daughter of the infamous sea witch and Uma felt more comfortable near the water than away sometimes, but she had explored the town before, ran around with the one she used to call friend as they caused mischief and trouble wherever they could. But this, this was far from town; it was off the beaten path, an achievement honestly on what was ultimately not a huge island, and there was a sense of adventure bubbling up inside the nine year old that try as she might she couldn't bite down. Adventure was the poison of goodness, that's what the adults always told the tiny terrors and mini monsters on the Isle, the hobby of princes on white knights and strong willed would be princesses; it was a “good” trait to have a sense of adventure and “good” traits were bad. Yet she couldn't resist it bubbling up inside her and as she approached what looked to be a castle her eyes widened and she stared for a moment.

She did not expect there to be a building so far; of course she had noticed the other one, a few miles down, and she had heard the noises from inside there. Someone had been screaming and someone else, someone small, had been crying; it stirred up too many memories and Uma had ran from that place as quickly as she could. This place was different, in many ways; it looks older, it looked more rundown. The Isle was full of broken places, to match the many broken people, but there was a sort of charm to the broken state of this one, like all the missing pieces were almost intentional in their absence. She dared to move closer, intrigued and listened; there was no screaming here, there was no filth and rotting fish, no adults trying to go bout their lives as if they were where they wanted to be or adults who just couldn't, wouldn't pretend. There were no kids trying to make the best to be what the people who gave them life expected them to be; there was a part of Uma that knew the word was parent, mother, father, but something felt wrong in using it. She may be Ursula's daughter but Ursula was not her mother, not like the mothers in the stories that played on the two channels that Auradon allowed the residents of the Isle to watch. This place was devoid of the commotion of the more heavily populated of the Isle's areas but it was also in a way devoid of the negative emotions and darkness that clung to every board and bone in town.

“What is that horrid smell?!” Her unaware relaxation was ruined by the sound of a voice nearly shrieking from within the castle; Uma's eyes widened and her guard immediately went up as she watched what looked to be the front door open and without a second's hesitation she dashed for the nearest bushes. Thorns and needles torn at her skin and clothes, and she was forced to bite back a hiss as she tried to hide herself, tried to became even smaller than she already was. Like an octopus; in the moments of kindness from Ursula, how utterly rare those could be, the sea witch liked to tell her daughter of what they truly were, of what she really could be, 'if only you weren't such a disappointment, if only you weren't so human', if only she wasn't her. It was as kind as the villainess ever got outside of straight ignoring her, and the locket of course. But in this moment it's what she thought about, curling herself up, to be an octopus, to find her place in the nooks and crannies of the bushes, try not to be big enough to get hurt more or be seen.

From her hiding spot she saw two figures make their ways out and she recognized them; it had three years admittedly, a third of Uma's life, but how could anyone forget the faces of the two that no one was supposed to even acknowledge anymore? The so called Evil Queen and her little daughter Evie; the older woman made her way out into the garden and though Uma couldn't quite see her very well once she got close enough she could tell the disgust she had seen and heard was not gone. From the doorway her daughter watched, hands folded in front of her and Uma couldn't help but think something off about her posture. Maybe it just felt too rigid to her, the girl living her life either running around Ursula's shop or the school or the docks or the streets; there was no one she knew who stood like that, almost like a doll, dressed in as neat of clothes as was possible on this island. She didn't really look normal to Uma but normal to Uma was dirt and tatters, adults who screamed and hit and grabbed you by the throat if they could catch you, and she tried not to let any of them catch her, least of all the ones who actually smiled at her. They were always the most dangerous.

Again the older woman's voice broke Uma from what thoughts she found herself having, staring at the little girl with the beautiful blue hair, and she turned her attention back from the princess to the queen. “I swear if those delivery boys brought us moldy food again!”

Delivery boys? Wasn't it vultures who brought food to this place? That's what Uma had always overheard at the restaurant, when people were willing to speak without the irrational fear a faerie without magic might hear. But her eyes fell on the girl and there wasn't even a twitch, not even a hint of confusion; her smile was sincere, gentle. “I'm sure it's nothing Mother...”

“Nothing indeed; this whole debacle has interrupted our mother daughter time,” the Evil Queen said and Uma wondered what debacle, when she had only come running out of the castle a minute or two ago; it seemed at least though these two had a nice relationship and there was a pit that fell into Uma's stomach, though she didn't quite understand fully why that was. Until it lifted with the queen's next words, “Lords know you need it; look at you, in shambles, your blush is all wrong, your lickstick a mess, your hair looks like a rat's nest. My girl, how you expect to attract a prince when you don't even put an effort into trying to make your plain features better?”

Uma didn't understand but she didn't understand a lot of things adults did; was there a single good or sane one? The nice ones with the wide smiles always wanted something, Ursula told her to stay away from them, and other adults just liked to try and kick her around, or the kids who actually did live on the streets. She worried sometimes about those kids, they didn't always seem to be seen again, especially if an adult caught them; Uma found her mind wandering to an incident with one kid, not a street kid, one of the bigger name villain's kids. She'd had to trick one of the smiley adults into walking onto one of the rotten planks on the docks to help the kid, not liking the way the kid had been struggling in the adult's grip or the look of the adult's smile; Harry, that was the kid's name she thought. The softness of the girl's voice was what pulled her back, if only because it sounded so weird, how timid it almost sounded, and yet so sickeningly familiar. “Yes Mother.”

The Evil Queen moved towards the door and her daughter stepped aside to let her in, seeming for a moment to turn to join her before stepping back. The older woman never even seemed to notice, another voice seeming to come from inside the house, one that did make Evie cringe for a second. Uma watched as she closed the door before speaking, “You can come out now.”

Uma froze up, terrified; she was found wasn't she? Fight or flight, she wasn't going to run again though; no she wasn't a coward was she? She was Ursula's daughter, she could put up a fight right? Still small fingers found the thorns and she let out a startled cry as they pricked her, drawing blood. The other girl's face turned to concern and she rushed over, trying to reach in. “Hold on, I'll help you.”

“No, go away,” Uma said without a thought and stepped back onto to move into more thorns that once again tore at her skin, her cheek and arms and legs scratched. She felt those anger tears from before return, but also a hand wrap around her wrist and pull on her, back towards where she had climbed in, a less painful route. But also towards the other girl.

In all honesty she really more fell into the other girl than simply get pulled along; she stumbled, Evie caught her, not enough strong in one and too much momentum in the other resulted in an unceremonious collapse onto the ground. Evie made a slight noise, Uma thought it sounded like what doves sounded like on the television but even softer, and the two young girls simply stared at each other. For about a millisecond, before Uma forced herself back up and her body stiffened, ready still for a fight; Evie just looked confused, her brow furrowed before she spoke again, getting to her feet, “Are you okay?”

“Did you know I was there all along?” Uma asked narrowing her eyes.

“Well yeah,” Evie responded and smiled, “You sort of stand out among the dead bushes you know.”

“It's the hair isn't it?” The switch in mood was nothing for Uma, besides it didn't take a genius to figure out, with her dirty brown clothes, even darker now as they were still drying on her, that it was her teal colored locks that were so stark against the branches and thorns. Still there was suspicion and her guard didn't go down. “Why didn't your mother notice me then?”

It seemed clear from the way Evie's brow furrowed and she fell silent, not immediately answering Uma, that the girl had no answer for that. But it struck her more as trustworthy in that than bad, the way the Evil Queen had moved and talked, that strange voice from inside the house, it all came back to mind. Uma moved to leave, deciding it might be best now then to run, though her skin itched and her legs hurt; Evie choose then though to finally speak again, her eyes widening, “Wait, don't go.”

“Why not?” Uma asked crinkling her nose.

“I'm Evie” came the other girl's answer and Uma wondered if strangeness was a family trait.

“I know; your mother is the Evil Queen, you guys got banished over here by Maleficent three years ago cuz Mal didn't get invited to your birthday party. It was a good party.” Leave it to Mal and her mother to break up a good party because one of them wasn't invited.

“You know about that then,” Evie said frowning and fidgeted, playing with a strand of her hair as she looked down.

Uma looked at her; the girl almost looked scared of something, her mother? No, not her mother; Evie didn't blink an eye as her mother had demeaned her, she was not afraid of her. Something else, someone else. The party. Mal. Maleficent. The Isle's leader had decreed that no one would remember who Evie or her mother were, it had been as good as a curse came on this little magicless rock; Uma remembered well the event, having been at the party herself, holding the tiny white and black kitten she'd managed to grab from the litter before they were all gone, before Ursula could throw a fit, her pet Cisero who now roamed the docks sometimes. The sea witch had hated that she'd grabbed a kitten and not one of the eels that were also there; that day had been wet and terrible but Uma still preferred it to the night she had had at home. But for Evie and her mother, for especially Evie, that day had to have been more than just terrible.

The girl though was scared of Maleficent, afraid of the “curse”, of whatever the dark faerie might do if she found out that Uma had come into contact with Evie, that Evie had talked to her. Uma would certainly be in trouble, though Ursula and Maleficent were as close to friends as villainesses got on this Isle, but what of Evie and the Evil Queen? Who knew, that probably made it scarier. But self-preservation made the part about Uma getting in trouble stick in her mind more, causing her wish to run to grow, to prevent getting into trouble. She was nine, and a child of the Isle, she shouldn't care about the worries of others; that's why for three years everyone had pretended the two didn't exist. No one else wanted to get involved, no one else wanted to get hurt.

Evie's hands were covered in pricks and dots of blood though and her hair really did look like a mess now from the dirt and twigs from the ground; her mother was probably rambling inside, maybe waiting for her. What would the beauty obsessed queen think when her daughter came in wearing a dirty dress, her arms covered in scratches from the thorns in the bushes? Would she scream, shout, curse, call her a disappointment, worse than a plain jane? Would she lift a hand, like so many of the villain parents seemed to, there wasn't anyone at Serpent Prep she knew of who hadn't come to school with some kind of bruise or cut, some new mark that didn't look to be from a normal fight. Mal didn't know, Uma remembered that; Mal never had any new cuts or bruises, no one ever touched her, not the daughter of Maleficent, not the girl with the sickly evil grin. Not the girl who had gotten Evie exiled here in the first place.

Not the girl who had dumped rotten shrimp on Uma because she'd laughed for a second. Couldn't this be the best revenge? Mal was horrible, Uma knew that, and horrible was supposed to good on the Isle but Uma didn't really want horrible; Uma felt weird about it but there was something in seeing the marks on Evie, the twigs in her hair and the dirt on her clothes, and knowing that this would be in direct opposition to what Mal would want, the grudge holding vindictive little dragon. And all she could do was smile at Evie.

Uma reached out her hand to put it on Evie's, startling the other girl back out of the fear, even just for a second, before speaking again. “Hey Evie, you want to be friends?”

The girl's face lit up, in a way that honestly threw Uma off for a moment, not used to such a thing, and she wondered if she really was a villain's kid, if she really was bad. If she belonged on this Isle at all. Evie took her hand in hers and squeezed it in a way that Uma supposed was supposed to be happy, talking excitedly. “Really, you want to be my friend?”

“Yeah.” Uma wanted to use her to get back at Mal, by befriending the person Mal probably still hated the most on this little island, but there was more to it; Uma didn't fully understand it herself at this point, she couldn't, but it was hard not to smile at Evie and agree, to want to befriend the misfit girl. And protect her; she reminded Uma of the street kids, and the villain kids who hung more around the docks than in their own homes, and the kid Harry she'd saved from that one smiling adult, and it did strike her in that moment that she wanted to protect them, all of them, especially from the adults with their bad intentions. She was nine years old and Uma knew it; she wanted to protect them.

“I'm so glad,” Evie said smiling her bright smile, then giggled. “Mother taught me how to make perfume out of flowers; we don't have many flowers admittedly but I should have enough to help with your smell...um.....”

“Uma. My name is Uma.”


	2. Salvation Comes From Darkness, Darkness Not The Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prologue two: Two little witches do good, break in, do some kidnapping, almost gets kidnapped themselves and make friends with a very dangerous figure, all before their tenth birthdays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (So the actual "current day" stuff starts next chapter I promise XD Thank you for putting up with me setting up some stuff and not running away.  
> WARNING: There are some very dark things in this chapter. To the point that I did have to change the rating on this fic. If you are triggered by (admittedly bad) descriptions of physical child abuse and child molestation, then maybe not read this chapter >w< But I'm never written this sort of thing before so it's probably not very graphic? Still I do not wish to upset anyone; writing what I did was enough to unsettle me admittedly.  
> Otherwiiiissseee I hope you enjoy and I'll see you in the next chapter everyone~)

It was two months before Uma would become acquainted with the child of Hell Hall, two months until the second event to change the course of her life forever.

She had taken, when able to get away from the restaurant, to running over to the Castle Across the Way, trying to get there as quickly as her legs could carry her, to go see her friend. It wasn't like Uma didn't have others, that wasn't the reason of course; Uma had a lot of friends. It wasn't like the whole incident with Mal had robbed her of her dignity, her reputation and her name....

Still her reasons, according to her own mind, were more based on Evie herself. The girl was after all an outcast, castleschooled by a woman that the more Uma became aware of her, the more she realized was not the best person to be teaching anyone. Least of all someone who turned out to be as brilliant as Evie; Uma had managed to get her hand on an old book still in relatively good condition that had been thrown out with the rest of Auradon's garbage, something on some scientific field that Uma didn't really fully understand. But when she brought it to Evie, purely on whim and not because she wanted to impress her friend or anything, the girl had managed to actually read it and even understand the highly complicated language. She even broke it down for Uma and the two had ended up spending an entire afternoon, and even a bit into the night, discussing and working on experiments with what materials they could find. Makeup, even old and nearly used up, turned out to be great when they could actually trace it's chemical parts; Uma had returned home to an earful about skipping work and being generally useless and weak in Ursula's eyes but that was more of the usual so she hadn't even been listening. The days in which she could escape and Evie could get away long enough to play, these were some of the best in Uma's mind, even compared to the days of pranking and cruelty she had indulged in with Mal; how strange that was.

Today was not much different; the two girls had decided to try to work on something they had found in another book that had washed up, an occurrence that Uma and Evie agreed was not making the united kingdoms of good look so nice. It was of use to them though, bringing to them plenty of things to do, between Evie trying to share the beauty tips her mom had drilled into her head from a young age and Uma trying to teach Evie how to fight and come off less like a gentle hearted princess and more like a dangerous child of the Isle and the two witchlets, daughters of the sorceress Evil Queen and the sea witch Ursula, working together to practice magic neither could even see the results of. The book they were working on today was not a spellbook, it was medical; the Isle wasn't completely devoid, Auradon wasn't heartless at least, but the medical supplies of the Isle were far from good. Even the two nine year olds were aware of this, but they also knew, with the help of the book, some plants that could be used to help.

But there was a problem; most of the ones that could grow on the Isle were not too hard to find near the castle, and the girls had collected up a nice sample to work with, but one of them was missing.

“I know where we can find some,” Evie spoke up as Uma dug around the flowers, trying to see if any matched the picture of the common comfrey plant they were looking for; the pirate girl looked up and the blue haired princess continued, “There's some other different plants over by the other house and I think I saw something that looked like that over there when I last went exploring.”

“Exploring?” It wasn't that her friend went out exploring that surprised Uma but rather where. The other house she mentioned, there couldn't really be any other than Hell Hall, home of the one and only Cruella de Vil; it was the only one near Evie's home, the only one for miles. But that seemed like such a stupid thing for Evie to have been doing. Uma didn't really know much about Cruella, except that the woman was one of the adults who seemed completely incapable of actually accepting where she was, more so than Maleficient and Ursula at the least, but she did know the rumors; that she was behind the child disappearances, that she made kids into coats, that she ate them instead of the near-rotting food everyone else had to ingest, that she kept them as slaves. On her way to the castle Uma had more than once heard noises from inside the house that sounded like a child crying out but she had never dared get too close. Not that she was scared of course but she had things to do of course.

Still the thought of going to Cruella's house to get some common comfrey for their medical concoctions left a sour sort of taste in her mouth, but Uma refused to let that show; they were trying to do something that might help after all, not the adults who would only scold them for doing something “good” even it helped them, but for the kids Uma told Evie about, that the two girls late at night would sneak into town and find, try to help. Evie's house was huge and the basement was unused; it worked perfectly they had found to take in kids who had nowhere to sleep except the streets. They'd honestly gained their own little following through it, a tiny gang of tiny and not so tiny kids; Uma liked to call them her wharf rats, many of them coming from the docks.

They had to get more medicine though and if the plant wasn't near the castle, and it was near the mansion, then Uma figured they had no other choice but to go there. So with a nod of her head, and a gathering of supplies needed to harvest the plant, the two girls snuck off the property of the Castle and down the road. Evie's hand found Uma's quickly enough and as the teal haired girl turned her head the blue haired one smiled, making her face heat up for a second. Evie certainly had a way of charming people, Uma had to give her that.

The walk to Hell Hall wasn't too long but it was also quiet, and Uma started to feel uncomfortable as they got closer and closer. It wasn't because of Evie or anything to do with her honestly, and it wasn't the gloomy weather because it was constantly gloomy around the Isle; rather it was the silence in general that set goosebumps off all over her body. It wasn't like Cruella was constantly there, everyone and their sidekick knew that she liked to go to the hole in the ground called mockingly the Spa, or simply to drive around the Isle on it's horrid roads at ungodly speeds in her red monster of a car. But the car was in the driveway, a sign she should be there; they could see it through the wrought iron gates around the house. The gates were far from an actual deterrent, broken in plenty of places and in enough ways to leave it more than easy for two small girls to climb through and get onto the grounds. Uma's eyes went to surveying the area, and ultimately mainly the house. It was different than the castle, a bit more modern, though that wasn't too hard, but also it felt colder and angrier somehow. There was something in it that gave the nine year old Uma a bad sense and without thinking she tugged on Evie's hand, practically dragging her towards the house and away from the garden where their target should be.

Evie furrowed her brow, confused and pulled back. “Uma....”

“It's so quiet, isn't it?” the sea witchlet said frowning.

“Yeah it is,” Evie said then frowned and looked at the house, “Weird, I don't think it's ever been so quiet before,” she paused for a moment then pulled again, “Uma, I don't like this. I don't like this feeling.”

Maybe it was magic, some kind that the barrier couldn't keep out; maybe it was latent sorcery in their blood that made the two sensitive to whatever it was they were feeling at this house. But they both could feel something was wrong, something was off; Evie wanted to run, she was scared and didn't know what else to do but run in this situation. But Uma's senses told her to keep pushing forward and she kept pulling on Evie, and Evie kept following her by default, holding tight to the other girl's hand.

They got close to the building itself and could see into the building itself, into a kitchen that to Uma looked far neater than anything she was used to, and to Evie seemed far brighter than anything she knew. And what looked to be a small figure laying motionless on the ground; Uma's eyes widened and Evie had to let go of her hand to put both of hers over her mouth in an attempt to stiffle a gasp.

“Is that...” the blue haired exile whispered but couldn't finish, neither entirely comfortable with what they were both thinking. Neither had ever seen a dead body before, not Evie in her lone state, and not Uma in her crowded life by the docks, but to the nine year olds what seemed to be inside looked dangerously like one. And a child at that.

Uma didn't know what really possessed her but before she could stop herself she had managed somehow to break the window of the door and get it open, rushing over to the body; Evie whimpered but followed quickly after, eyes wide.

Uma leaned over the child to get a better look; it was a boy, and not one she recognized. He had white hair, though the roots seemed to be dark; actually his clothes were similarly bi-colored, black and white with some red added in, almost like a bad joke given life though it worked somehow in a strange way. He was small too, like actually smaller than her but it didn't escape her notice in what ways, in the malnourished, cramped sort of way that the street kids and the kids who tried to hide on the streets were. Nor did Uma overlook the welts and scars on the kid's body, the strange circular marks on his hands, his arms, his neck, that looked suspiciously like burns, the injuries that littered every inch of visible skin and who knew how much that was covered; some looked old, some were much newer. The bruises and cuts on his face were certainly new and she reached out to touch him, to check if he was still alive, but when her hand made contact he seemed to flinch by instinct. Well still that answered that question but she turned to Evie, “Evie...”

“He's still alive?”

“We gotta help him.” The sea witchlet didn't hesitate and she didn't regret the goodness inherent in the word “help”; she got the feeling that not doing so would be the evil thing to do but Uma never did like seeing the injured kids on the streets. And she sure as hell didn't like seeing this kid, beaten to what obviously was near-death, just laying there on the kitchen floor; she wandered what he had done to deserve this, and who he was in the first place. Was he from the rumors, a kidnapped child Cruella was keeping around to eat or skin?

Evie started to take out what supplies they had but Uma stopped her, frowning; the princess looked up, opening her mouth to say something but then heard what Uma did. Footsteps, angry and fast, followed soon by a shrieking voice both knew though normally only from a distance. “Carlos, you lazy brat, why is my car not washed yet?! I swear if you're still laying in the kitchen I'm going to-”

Uma didn't want to hear the rest; quickly moving she took one of the boy's arms and slung it over her shoulder. “Evie, help.”

Evie blinked but moved just as fast, grabbing the boy's other arm and doing the same thing; together the girls got him up, finding him far lighter than they were expecting. Which was to say they were hoping he'd be heavier than them at least; they made their way back out of the door as quickly as they could, managing just barely to get into the garden and throw themselves into the bushes as Cruella's voice got even louder and shriller. The words she started to use were ones that honestly set Uma's blood boiling, accusations of “Carlos' ” behavior and the damage to the house, the glass Uma had broken in the door they had escaped through, and what Cruella would do to him once he was caught. Her hand squeezed around the boy's shoulder and he moved again, letting out a whimper that Evie quickly moved to stiffle with a hand. Uma moved again, not trusting their current hiding place to last for long if Cruella decided to look for them; Evie winced as her dress got torn again but her eyes soon fell on the boy again and she withdrew her hand, “What are we going to do, Uma?”

“First get out of here,” Uma said and glanced back to see Cruella gone, “Get past the gate at least then find somewhere we can put him down and tend to his wounds.”

“There's a small cave nearby,” Evie said and Uma nodded in agreement that it would work; Evie bit her lip, “But...”

“But?”

“It's the other direction from my house. It's closer to town.” Uma frowned though she understood Evie's problem a bit; the girl did have to stay out of sight of other Isle residents in case it got back to Maleficient, their trips to town always been under the cover of darkness. Admittedly the old dark faerie seemed to know nothing of Uma's trips over but still, it was better if Evie didn't venture too terribly far into the populated parts of the Isle.

Still the boy needed help sooner rather than later and Evie knew that. So the trio made their way back to the gate and out onto the road again, making their way towards the cave.

It was more a collection of rocks that happened to form a semi-covering than an actual cave; still it would do. Uma set the boy down finally, as did Evie, and the latter got to work getting out what supplies they had managed to bring together. Uma ran to get some water, wetting an old rag before bringing it back quickly and cleaning up his wounds; it was as the salty water hit his cuts that the boy finally woke up, at first groggy and groaning. But then as he saw the girls his eyes widened and he screamed, trying to get away, “No, let me go! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!”

“It's okay,” Evie said, putting her hands out, “We're trying to help you.”

“No, stay away!” he said and moved from her, only to bump into Uma; as he looked up at her and saw her face, looking more annoyed than the actual worry she felt, he paled and looked ready to burst into tears.

She bit her lip and sighed. “Look seriously, we're trying to help you. Calm down, we're not going to hurt you.”

“Wh-where am I?” he asked and looked around, “Who are you?” he paused for a moment, “Y-you're kids too right?”

There was a strange amount of curiosity in that voice, too much for Uma to feel entirely comfortable, but she nodded, lowering the wet rag. “Yeah. I'm Uma, I'm from the docks. And that's Evie.”

“You're the girl who had that really great birthday party,” the boy said turning his head to Evie who managed somehow to both blush and pale at the same time; the expression didn't help the boy who whimpered and started muttering apologies again.

“Evie just doesn't like being reminded of that,” Uma told him and bit her lip, “Look you have a lot of injuries; can we get back to treating them and you can explain to us who you are and what happened?”

“Where am I first?” he asked again.

“We're in a hidey hole a few feet from your house,” Evie said as Uma resumed cleaning the boy's face; he winced more at the salty water and she apologized but didn't stop, “We saw you laying in Cruella's kitchen and Uma ran in to help you.”

“You did?” the boy asked and turned to Uma, nearly getting the rag in the eye.

“Yeah now don't move; I'm almost done,” she said and frowned, “You got all these dark spots on your face....”

“Oh um yeah, I've always had those,” the boy said and blushed, “M-m-m-m-mom says they're n-n-not as good a-a-as d-d-d-d-d-” he started to stutter so much it was hard to understand; still Uma caught part of it.

“Mom?” He nodded and she continued. “Who's your mom?”

“Cruella.” His body shook saying her name and Uma froze for a moment, looking to Evie who looked equally as shocked. Uma was honestly surprised Cruella of all people would have a kid but then somehow Ursula had had her and the Evil Queen had Evie and Mal existed and so did a lot of kids on the Isle; it shouldn't be too surprising. At the very least he either went to another school, maybe Dragon Hall like many of the town kids did, or he was castleschooled like Evie, but then again Cruella didn't seem like the type to actually teach anyone. But there was his curiosity about them being kids too, like he wasn't used to interacting with other children.

“Wait so your mother beats you?” Evie asked with shock in her voice. The boy looked down and seemed to be trying to make himself even smaller, retreating from the question; maybe he was thinking she was judging him? Uma knew Evie wasn't; she just didn't know, she was pretty lucky on that front. Though from what Uma had heard, it wasn't any better the abuse the Evil Queen did aim at her daughter.

Uma did know though and put a hand on his shoulder, causing another start and another, albeit softer, scream; he turned to her with wide eyes and she spoke, “What's your name?”

“C-Carlos.” Well that explained the name that Cruella had been screaming back at Hell Hall.

“Carlos, we're not gonna hurt you. Evie's gonna bandage you up and then....” Then what? Leave him there? Take him back to Hell Hall? Take him away from Cruella? There seemed to be no good options honestly though the last was pretty tempting; Uma just hated abusive adults, even more than she hated Mal and this Isle in general, and it seemed to her that Carlos was in a pretty bad situation. But actually taking him could cause other trouble; no telling what she might actually do to try and find her son. And what might happen when she did find him.

But also what she would do to him if he came home right now. She bit her lip and Evie took over, taking Carlos' hand, smiling at him in her sweet way when he turned to her, “This might hurt too; we haven't perfected it but Uma and me have been working on some medications for stuff like these.”

“Medications?” he said and scrunched up his nose as she applied some of the rudimentary salves to his face; still it soon brightened up and Uma took note of the way his eyes lit up, actually seeming to be something other than scared for a moment, “You mean you two have been making medicine? By yourselves?”

“Well we have a book on medicine from the mainland,” Evie explained, “Uma found it, like a bunch of our other books.”

“That's amazing.” The fear and mistrust seemed to melt away, curiosity and fascination taking their place instead. Uma had to admit to being somewhat pleased to see it too and she assisted Evie, bandaging Carlos with the makeshift gauze and bandaids they had been able to make.

In a matter of minutes the boy's wounds had been cleaned and he was as properly attended to as they could possibly do with what they had. Uma and Evie both looked pleased with themselves and Carlos looked himself over, silent for a moment before turning to them again, “This is...thank you.”

Evie smiled brightly and Uma rubbed her head, furrowing her brow at the expressed gratitude. The question of before though arose again; what to do with him? Carlos started to talk to Evie about what kind of books they had, the shy boy seeming to be opening up over something that seemed so silly and simple; it struck her though that he reminded her a bit of Evie. Obviously Evie had never been harmed by her mother, that would be counterintuitive to teaching the girl how to look beautiful after all, but there was a sense of abandonment to both, and sense of wonder that stood out to the little witch. It was far from a bad thing, she adored Evie and she loved their experiments and attempts to making things better, something she knew she could never admit aloud. Part of her really felt a tiny bit jealous seeing how well the two seemed to bond but Carlos seemed to turn to her and smiled, not in the same way Evie did which seemed to immediately steal ones heart, but in a friendly way, and Uma once more found herself unable to resist smiling back at someone.

“If you want to see the books you can always come back to the castle,” Uma offered and watched as excitement filled his eyes.

“Really? I can?” Carlos asked, “A-are you sure?”

“Yeah sure, the more the merry-” Uma's response was cut off by a horrid sound and all three froze up. Carlos' eyes widened and the fear seemed to return in full force; Evie whimpered softly and Uma frowned, looking out from their hiding spot towards where the road was. They all knew that sound, they all knew what it meant.

“Please no.” Carlos whimpered and curled up into a fetal position; Uma watched as a flash of red raced down the road, the mad form of Cruella at the wheel. She bit her lip and turned to look at the others; Cruella was obviously out looking for her wayward son and something told her it wasn't to give him a hug and apologize for hurting him so badly. There was no way she was letting her get Carlos right now though, she couldn't just sacrifice the scared boy back to the woman who had burned and beaten him. But what could a small nine year old girl, two of them, do against Cruella de Vil, one of the bigger name villains on the Isle?

“We need to go to town.” The words came out before she could stop them and both Evie and Carlos looked up at her; Carlos' fear was more related to his mother, obviously, but Uma knew what the fear that surfaced on her blue haired friend's face was all about. She bit her lip, “It's our only choice.”

“What about my house?” Evie asked her voice slightly shaking, “We could....”

“We can't make it back to your house, not against her demon car,” Uma said frowning, “The town is closer and we can hide in plain sight there.”

“But Uma...”

“I know. I don't want to risk you getting caught either, but Carlos....” Uma looked at the boy.

He shook his head. “I don't want you to do anything that might get you into trouble, not for me. I don't deserve it.”

“Of course you deserve being helped,” Uma said nearly snapping, “You certainly don't deserve being beaten like that.” No one did, not any of the kids of the Isle at the very least; it honestly angered her just thinking about it and she clenched her fist before offering her hands to them, “Come on, I know it might be scary and dangerous but if we hurry we might be able to get into the streets before Cruella even can spot us.”

They both hesitated and a part of her wanted to just grab them and force them to come. They couldn't stay there forever, eventually they had to do something and Uma thought that hiding out in town, at least until they could think of something better, was the best idea that had right now. Or rather that she had.

Finally though Carlos uncurled and grabbed her hand, giving her a nod and a look that seemed to trust her, a strange sort of look but one that made her think strongly of her wharf rats, those lost souls in Evie's basement. He spoke softly, “Alright then.”

“I'm still not sure about this,” Evie said biting her lip but she took took Uma's hand in hers and took a deep breath, “I trust you though Uma.”

“Thanks,” Uma said the word coming out easier for the villain kid than she honestly expected it to; she smiled weakly at the two before leading the way towards town; her heart was pounding and she was worried but she had to seem strong, she just had to.

  
  


The luck by which they had managed to get all the way to the town seemed to hold out long enough to actually get them into the town itself before they heard the roar again. Carlos was having some trouble keeping up, Uma suspected it had more to do with his injuries than an actual lack of skill, but he held tight to the sea witchlet's hand and she pulled him and Evie both along insistently. Evie for her part had picked up on Uma's lessons enough to be able to dodge and evade easily enough, managing to keep from knocking into any of the other bodies wandering the streets; the populace was out and about and the stores were busy, giving them more than enough of a crowd to hide within.

“She can't just drive madly in town,” Evie said, sidestepping a woman in a tattered and faded Victorian dress holding a half moldy loaf of bread, “Right?”

“No, that would be a little too much chaos,” Uma said; she didn't mention how she suspected, since most people didn't see the red car too often in town, that Maleficient probably had some feelings about the thing being out and about and had talked to Cruella about it. Mass murdering the populace was not really something that the Isle allowed, evil as they may be.

Carlos sighed in relief though it was lost in the din of yelling and complaining from all around them, a man screaming about scarves or something like that; he looked around him and Uma watched his face carefully. He didn't seem amazing or surprised or anything; it was likely he did leave the house occasionally, probably even came here, but the questions in her head about him just seemed to stack up because of that. She squeezed his hand and he turned his gaze to him, making her gesture with her head forwards; he blinked and she rolled her eyes before tugging on his hand, leading him and Evie forward again.

“It's always so busy, isn't it?” On the other hand there did seem to be curiosity from someone else; Uma looked at Evie who was looking around them. There was equal parts interest, not surprising from the girl who had been away from everyone else for three years, but also some sadness. The party had been in town after all, this probably brought back some less than wonderful memories; again Uma squeezed a hand, hers this time, and gave her friend a reassuring smile. It wasn't like Uma would let Mal or Maleficent ruin this for her.

The trio pushed and pulled their way through the crowds, finally managing to squeeze themselves out into a breathing space and stopped moving for the moment. Their hands stayed linked until Evie let go, at which point Uma let go of Carlos and lifted her head, listening. The voices were still there, a mixture of the life of the town, what life the accursed Isle could even allow for; Uma saw a kid pushing into an adult and then slip off, a small bundle of coin catching her quick eye. Pickpockets weren't uncommon and she turned to the other two. “Check yourselves, make sure you still have everything you came with.”

Carlos was already patting himself down, obviously used to this procedure; Evie nodded and started checking as well while Uma felt around her neck. Her locket was still there and a check of the bag that she had her half of the medical supplies in showed no worries; that's all she really cared about ultimately.

“I've got everything,” Evie said smiling at Uma and Carlos pulled out a small device from his pocket.

“What's that?” Uma asked tilting her head at him.

“Nothing!” he said quickly and his face flushed before he shoved it back into his pocket, “I-I'm fine, so what next?”

His reaction struck Uma as very suspicious and now she really wanted to know. “Come on Carlos, you can trust us, what is it?”

“Really it's nothing,” he said frowning.

“You don't trust us then?” She put on her most hurt look.

Carlos whined. “N-no, it's not that....I mean I did just meet you but you're helping me so...” He looked so conflicted and Uma almost felt bad but she really was curious about what it was he had in his pocket that he didn't want to tell them about.

“It's okay Carlos, we won't do anything to you; Uma's just curious,” Evie said and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I just want to know more,” she said and gave a smile, “Please?” It almost tasted bad in her mouth to say that and Carlos and Evie both looked at her with wide eyes, like she'd said a bad word or something. Admittedly bad guys weren't supposed to say that word but bad guys aren't supposed to bandage people up either, or get angry seeing kids getting hurt, or hide kids in basements to give them somewhere to go, or help others either. Uma wasn't really upholding her villain hertiage so far, why not use the p word?

He bit his lip and hesitated before removing the device again and holding it out, giving them a better look. It was a small black box with wires sticking out from one side of it; Uma had never really seen anything like it and she didn't really know what to make of it but she looked up at Carlos' face as he spoke, “It's just a component; I'm trying to build myself a computer-”

“A computer? Like they have in Auradon?” Evie asked with wide eyes and Uma had to admit to being amazed; everyone knew about Auradon's technology, they had all sorts of things that people on the Isle couldn't even dream of. Of course they knew about computers but someone actually trying to build one, especially a kid.

Carlos nodded and he smiled softly. “Yup. I found a lot of the materials in the garbage and there's even been a few instruction manuals in the trash from Auradon but I'm trying to improve upon it. I have a semi-working model, i-if you guys are interested in seeing it.”

Uma blinked and looked at Evie, who was doing the same to her, then the young girls both spoke in unison, “We'd love to!”

His smile grew and for a moment it just seemed like things were going well; Uma had to admit she never expected that Cruella would have a son or that he would honestly seem so cool. She wondered if maybe she would have to start stopping by Hell Hall on her way to Evie's house, grab him so they could go over and they could play together; he was obviously smart and he had seemed interested in the books they had collected, and the more the merrier as she had tried to say before. Hell maybe they could even go to his house instead; if Uma and Evie were there then maybe they could keep Cruella from hurting him more, they could protect their new friend. The very thought of protecting him, as making friends with the boy dressed in black and white and red, it sent a shiver down her spine and it didn't even feel like a bad thing.

But good things on the Isle weren't never meant to last; before Uma could even move someone had grabbed her and to her horror her instinct was to freeze up. Her first thought was Cruella, the evil woman had caught up to them, nevermind why she would grab Uma and not Carlos; hell, Uma wasn't certain yet Cruella didn't kidnap kids and eat them or make them into coats, it would likely contribute to Carlos' fear. But then she saw Carlos and Evie both be grabbed by two more men, and Uma realized that the arm around her was way thicker and hairer than Cruella's could be.

It was the smiles on the men's faces, both the ones who had her friends and another three that were partially blocking view of the streets, that ultimately made every drop of blood in her body go cold, that caused the tightening in her chest and a deep fear that Uma had no control over to come over her. The smiling adults, they'd found them; the very adults Uma knew the best to stay away, the most dangerous of all, they had caught them.

She started to scream and tried to struggle, her heart pounding in her ears. “Let them go, let Evie and Carlos go, let them go right now!” She tried to bite the man but he just laughed and he and his partner carried them down an alleyway; still she tried and she struggled, screaming as loud as she could. But no one seemed to notice and she could hear Evie crying, Carlos begging to be released. The man who had them laughed as well and the laugh sent the bad kind of shivers through Uma.

The young witchlet tried but to no avail, unable to do anything as her friends were finally dropped and Carlos tried to run only to be grabbed again and pinned against the wall by the throat, his face twisting in pain. Evie sat, eyes wide with terror as she looked up at the man now advancing on her, with the sickly grin, that horrible smile. Uma closed her eyes, trying not to watch and feeling so angry, with them and with herself; she wanted to protect Carlos, she had thought she could but she couldn't even move, she couldn't even get loose. She screamed louder and kicked her captor repeatedly, over and over, harder and harder, biting him again even deeper and trying to ignore the disgusting taste of his skin until his arm finally pulled away enough for her to get free. She dropped to the ground unceremoniously and she ran over, going to Evie first and pushing the man away from her with all of her strength. “I said leave her alone!”

“What spunk,” said one of the men and he licked his lips, Uma's body shaking but she tried to stand her ground nevertheless, standing between Evie and the others; she heard Carlos whimpering and she grabbed Evie's hand, trying to rush over to help him, maybe both girls together could get the one who was holding him to let go, maybe they could get him free and then....then....

She felt a heavy hand smack her and her hand slid from Evie's as she was sent flying into a pile of garbage nearby. There was laughter and the girl tried to pick herself up but another hand had grabbed her and she tried again to struggle, to get free of it and the way it was trying to paw at her, pulling at her clothes and making her heart just race faster. No, no no no, she refused; she was not going to give in, she couldn't. She was the sea witch's daughter and she had already decided she was going to protect Evie and Carlos, going to protect all the lost kids of the Isle, from the adults who were supposed to be their parents, from the other kids who would hurt them, from the monsters who would hurt them. From the beasts that smiled with such a sick hunger.

“Uma!” Evie's voice called out, thick with fear and pain, trembling.

“Uma...” Carlos' voice cried out, weak and strained, uncertain.

“We'll see how long that spunk lasts,” said the voice of the man from before, laughing, almost teasing, almost friendly, but entirely wrong.

Uma hated the hot tears that billowed up in her eyes and she tried to claw out, to do something. She had to do something.

The sound of pain that followed didn't come from her and for a second she feared it came from one of the others, and she made a vow to find out which and then kill who ever had made them cry out in pain like that, but then it occurred to her it sounded more like one of the adults than like Evie or Carlos. And there was another soon after, sudden and angry, followed by yelling. “What's going on?”

There seemed to be no answer to it and Uma tried to listen, to find out exactly what was going on; she noted another sound, soft but swift, a woosh of sorts and the sound of yet another scream. The hand holding her let go and she was able now to get up and see what exactly was going on.

It was hard to see at first but one of the men fell and she was able to see finally what was going on; one of the men fell, screaming as he held his bleeding leg and Uma saw a young boy, taller than her but around her age, frowning. In one hand he held a hook, far bigger than his hand and looking more than a little awkward, dripping with blood; the other gripped a sword, sharp and coated in blood as well. Uma didn't need to think hard to guess what was going on; he looked over and their eyes met and for a moment he froze then he smiled, actually smiled, before shoving his sword through the arm of the man holding Carlos, causing him to be dropped.

“Grab ye friends and get!” the boy's voice was thick with an accent and a barely contained laugh; the cautious and smart parts of her was unsure about trusting him but this wasn't really about trusting him. She moved quickly, grabbing Carlos and Evie without another second's hesitation and running, trying to get away from there with them as quick as possible. She led them all the way to the docks, to her home turf, and ducked under one of the many ramps and half built pathways; she had to catch her breath, she had to try and recollect, she had to get her heart to stop pounding in her ears and her mind to stop rolling with worries. Uma looked over at her friends.

It was enough to make her want to go back honestly if only to help the boy hurt those monsters; Evie's dress was ripped and she was sniffling, trying it seemed to hold in tears that fell anyway, ruining her makeup. Carlos was not much better, his jacket having been lost somehow through the whole ordeal and his pants in quite a state; there was a new bruise around his neck and he was shaking hard, clenching her hand tight. As he looked at her she had to guess she didn't look much better and didn't really want to think much about it; she knew she was missing clothes as well, and she tugged on her shirt selfconsciously, in some weak attempt to cover up better. The largest part of her was angry about her friends, but there was more than just that; she was angry at herself for suggesting the town, for allowing this to happen, and she was embarrassed. Worse than Mal, worse than smelling like shrimp, worse than being called useless and worthless by Ursula; this was far worse and she swallowed back tears of her own. Instead she grabbed Evie and Carlos again and pulled them close, hugging them both tight; the latter froze up, and honestly Uma was hoping no one else was watching, but she felt Evie wrap her arms around them as well and ultimately Carlos eased up and joined into the group hug. Soft sobs and light whimpers but none of them commented, just staying like that for the time being; they needed it.

“Well ain't this sweet?” A familiar voice rang out and they pulled apart immediately, Uma turning to look over. It was the boy again, grinning and still holding his bloody weapons; Evie frowned and pulled Carlos to her protectively, watching him carefully. Uma for her part moved by instinct to shield them and the boy laughed, “I'm not gonna hurt ye or ye precious lil friends there, Uma.”

She froze for a moment, staring at him. Maybe she shouldn't but it just took her off her guard and she spoke without thinking, “That's my name.”

It was so simple, such a stupid thing and she knew it was stupid but to her, to the sea witchling, it wasn't stupid at all. That was her name, her **_name_** ; this boy hadn't called her Shrimpy, he'd called her Uma. After what happened with Mal no one, outside of the cook at the fish shop and Evie and Carlos of course, called her by name, only ever that thing. Only ever Shrimpy. But he'd called her Uma and it made her stop.

He smiled again and there felt something so familiar about his face; he sheathed the sword, the scabbard barely off the ground at his side, “Well 'course I call ye Uma; that's who ye are after all. Uma the sea witch's daughter.”

“And you're,” she said, or asked, she wasn't too sure which she was trying to do; she furrowed her brow and looked at the hook again. A hook, hook...Hook....her eyes widened and she turned her gaze back to his face, seeming the bright, unhinged sort of smile on his face, “Harry!”

“Harry?” Evie asked, “You know him?”

“I...I saved him once,” she said speaking in a low voice, as if afraid someone else might hear.

“And now I've returned the favor,” he said, “And I must say, I was happy tae do it. Here,” he stepped away and the trio waited until he returned, throwing them two bags, Uma and Evie's. Evie's eyes widened and she let go of Carlos to grab the bags, checking them over, “Our stuff!”

“Aye; you left it behind, lassie,” Harry said and chuckled, “I figured I should return 'em tae ye.”

“Thank you,” Uma said and he turned to her, giving the same sort of shocked look Evie and Carlos had before; she didn't even flinch though and continued, “You really messed those guys up, we appreciate the help.”

“Aw, um, well.” Harry's confident face slid, and he suddenly looked very much an awkward young boy, scratching his head. With his hook; he yelped as it got stuck on his head and Uma couldn't help a short chuckle before going over to him, helping his get it unhooked. He stared at her, watching him with a uncertain expression; she checked his head.

“You really aren't used to your little tool are you?” Uma said raising an eyebrow at him.

“Not a tool; it's mae hand,” he said with a huff that made her lip quiver in threatening of a smile; he looked childish, not like the guy who may or may not have killed six men just now.

“Well whatever,” she said and turned to Evie, “We still got some of the salve?”

She nodded and smiled, getting up to go over and handed Uma the container, “We'll need to make more though.”

Carlos soon joined them and Uma applied the salve gently; Harry looked at each of them, furrowing his brow before speaking again, “Ye all are weirdoes ain't ye?”

“Sort of,” Evie said giggling, “I'm Evie, Evil Queen's daughter.”

“I'm not weird,” Carlos said frowning a bit, “Carlos de vil...”

“Look who's calling us weirdoes, mister I-carry-around-a-hook,” Uma said scoffing.

“I ain't weird,” he said complaining but a smile spread across his lips again, “Harry, son of the one and only Cap'n Hook.”

Uma couldn't help but smile now herself, looking at Harry. “You are so weird, just face it Harry.”

“Why should I?”

“Cuz if you do then you can join our crew.” This made Harry stare at her again, seeming taken off guard by this and left speechless; Carlos and Evie both seemed surprised by this as well and Carlos put a hand on Uma's arm, “Uma? What do you mean 'our crew'?”

“I mean what I say,” she said turning to him, “I got a crew and you and Evie are part of it, and Harry can join if he admits he's a weirdo.”

“Why should I join ye crew exactly?” Harry asked and crossed his arms, “I donnae follow nobody's orders.”

“There's no orders to follow, pirate boy,” Uma said rolling her eyes, “Well okay maybe there are some orders but not right now; I have no orders to give.”

“Ye the leader?” Harry asked raising an eyebrow.

She narrowed her eyes, “Yeah I'm the leader, you got a problem with that?”

Evie moved to put a hand on Uma's arm next, aware herself that Harry had a sword and a hook and just possibly killed people to save them and that fighting him wouldn't be smart. But Uma hated when people underestimated her; she might not have been able to fight the adults but it didn't mean she couldn't fight Harry. The taller boy looked down at her which only angered her more before finally, after a minute of silence, laughing and bowing; she watched him carefully as he grinned. “Right then, better ye than some weak fool. I'd be tickled to join ye lil crew, Uma.”

Hearing her name again made her smile and she crossed her arms now herself, standing up straight as she could to try and seem taller; it didn't work. “Well...?”

He sighed but kept smiling and held up his hook, the metal gleaming under the sticky blood still on it. “I'mma weirdo then~”

Carlos chuckled lightly and Evie smiled, looking to Uma. The sea witchling was grinning and held out her hand, “Welcome to my crew then, Harry.”

He took her hand in his actual hand. “Glad tae join ye. What now then?”

“Well I say we go steal some not as torn clothes from some shop, get changed, and get out of town,” Uma said her eyes gleaming as she grinned, starting off without a change for question or argument, “I have a plan about another problem of ours....”

Harry looked to Carlos and Evie, and the former's eyes widened with some realization before rushing after her, “Uma!”

Evie took a second to get it herself and grinned before following, “Uma~”

Harry was left and thought for a moment before shrugging and following, still grinning. “Uma!”

 


	3. What It Means to Not Be Rotten To The Core

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years past and in the course of an afternoon, those who cross the bridge come together. The choice is hers; betray or be betrayed, destruction of one or the other. Auradon though matters nothing to those who know what it's like to be on the darker side of the shield.

“UMA!” The overly loud, and certainly infuriated, voice found a way to echo out of the relatively small shop and through the docks themselves; the patrons inside shook with a combination of fear and the mere force of the sea witch's shriek. Outside passerbys barely paid it mind; after all for the most part, it had been far from a rare occurance. Only getting worse with time, since a certain incident seven years prior.

But for her part, the one being screamed for had actually learned very well how to ignore the call. There had been a time when that was unthinkable; in many ways ignoring the yell of the sea witch was dangerous and especially so for Uma. To block out her mother's scream was akin to asking for trouble, to be hurt, to get yelled at more, to possibly even get locked outside for the night or worse. Ursula usually preferred the use of her tentacles though and Uma knew all too well from mistakes once made how badly those could sting. There had been a time when that actually was enough to drag Uma from what she wanted to do and back to the fish and chips shop to do her duty, to skip school because they needed more workers, even for a time to put off seeing Evie because she didn't want to upset Ursula more, to make the sea witch angry. But that changed with Carlos and Harry. The day Uma made her declaration, the day the boys made their choice, changed everything for her.

It didn't change immediately to tell the truth; it took time to learn, to change, to adjust. The first day she had rushed out of the restaurant because Harry, out of breath and bent over by the door had told her about what had happened to Carlos, once again, over at Hell House, Uma had been terrified. But after her heart had calmed down, after finding Carlos still breathing and conscious, just with a few new burn marks and a slight limp that would persist for a few days, she realized something; her fear was more for him than for herself. Ursula's abuse later that night, ending with a lack of dinner and a harsh slap across the face, somehow felt like nothing when she thought of how scared she'd been over continuing to leave Carlos there with that other woman. That her friend was suffering far worse, had suffered far worse. Every new time she left quicker, less hesitantly, and as she grew, so did her resolve. It wasn't just for Carlos; it was for every street child, the forgotten, the truly lost. If asked she couldn't tell when her mother started locking her out at night; since the day her crew had started to grow more she had taken to spending more and more time helping the kids who didn't have a place to be locked out of. The first night she met Gaston's young son Gil the boy was still trying to get back into his own house; Harry had said Gil probably didn't fully understand what had exactly happened to him, his heavy accent scented with a chuckle. Carlos and Evie were the ones who first suggested the H word. Help. It took them an hour to realize the fact that they had accidentally picked up a “puppy” in doing so, but as Uma saw it, Gil was as good as a street child as any with a family like his. Whole Isle knew what kind of person Gaston was. But Gil, Gil was different; maybe it was that difference, familiar to the young witchlets and the bicolored boy, becoming more familiar to the young pirate son, that really made that choice for them.

Gil made five, the core of what over time became known as the Wharf Rats, Uma's crew; the brawny boy heard the call too and he stopped for a moment, turning his head towards where everyone knew Ursula's Fish and Chips to be. He frowned, brow furrowing, before looking back across the deck of the old ship that the Wharf Rats now collectively called home. The Lost Revenge was far from being the most beautiful vehicle but she was certainly the pride of the crew, the tale of how Uma and Harry had managed by some strange miracle to win the vessel in a race hosted by the latter's father one that was told on a somewhat regular basis. When Harry and Uma weren't in immediate earshot more than not; the word bathtub was usually enough to make Harry, changing little in temperament from childhood, to try to brandish his hook in someone's face. But so was the word crocodile; the boy still hadn't convinced Tick Tock to eat his hand.

“Uma?” Gil asked, tilting his head, “Shouldn't you, you know, go see what she wants?”

The teal haired girl barely looked up; one hand she held her cutlass, steady and swift as she sharpened it with the old whetstone cradled in the other. Gone was the small nine year old, barely able to hide in rose bushes, easy to pick up, easy to scare; though she was far from tall she had certainly grown, coming into her own form as a teenaged female on the Isle. Her long hair hung in braids under her pirate's hat, the leather and teals and browns of her clothes matching her to a tee and bringing to mind the very thing she had become; the sea witchlet was no more, now she was a pirate queen and she would allow none to forget this. Her gaze though did slip for one second, up at her old friend before slipping back down to her blade.

She did not respond; Gil took that as not hearing him, not catching the gaze. “Uma? Didn't you hear-”

“Yeah yeah,” she said shortly and dropped the stone, letting it fall to the floor and her sword hang at her side; she lifted herself from her seat against the railing of the Lost Revenge, taking in a breath before letting it out once more in a somewhat annoyed sigh.

Her eyes moved again, away from him, away from the docks, off into the horizon; this did not escape Gil. Even he understood what that meant; in the last year a sort of restlessness had settled upon her. The restrain of living on the Isle, of what they were resisted to, it seemed to have become a point of too much discomfort for her. Maybe it was the state of things on the Isle, the fact that seven years had passed but while the kids grew up, nothing else changed. Their food was still rotten and their lives were still about getting leftovers and scraps, their medical supplies now primarily coming from certain individuals on the islands unknown to the people of Auradon; children kept being born and children kept being abandoned, abused, growing resentful on the moldy bread and spoiled butter of hateful parents and a kingdom whose only response was posters. “Being Good is Good!” Gil had only the night before helped in spraypainting one of the posters that spotted the Isle's walls, sprouting propaganda on the virtues of “goodness”, not the most artistic of the crew but always happy to help. Part of Gil, knowing how the villain kids were expected to act, knew that the fact that it was the state of things there that made Uma look to the barrier that kept them from sailing away with such sadness and anger in her eyes, that this wasn't supposed to be. But Gil felt the same ultimately; he hated to see the kids left to starve on the streets. He hated to see the people who could barely be called “parents” be left to be given free reign to treat their children as they wished. He hated knowing, after some explanation from the others, how their food was little more than throwaways from the kingdom who had plenty to give, of the books that washed up and ended up in Uma, Evie and Carlos' hands, of the knowledge that the medicine the Wharf Rats had was all because of two little girls wanting to do what they could to save lives on the Isle of the Lost. And to that he hated the posters professing the greatness of good from a kingdom of hypocrites; where was their goodness when his father tried to beat Gil for not being “as good as the great Gaston”, when his brothers beat him up for being the “runt” of the family, when kids were abused, physically, emotionally, sexually, every day in the streets and homes of the Isle?

“Uma?” he spoke again and stepped towards her, reaching out to touch her shoulder. The gesture didn't startle her; more like it woke her up and her attention seemed to return from wherever it was she had been and back to reality. Her brown eyes looked into his momentarily then she smiled.

“I'm fine Gil,” she said, placing her hand over his before pulling it off of her shoulder, “I was just thinking, might as well go out into town. The others should have been back by now; we better make sure they've not gotten themselves into any trouble.”

“Without us?” he asked, getting a laugh from her; the clearness of it, the genuine aspect and deepness, he couldn't help but smile in response. Uma slid her blade into the scabbard hanging off her belt and started off towards the dock, Gil following right beside her; he didn't need the “goodness” of Auradon, not when he had Uma and the others.

 

Uma knew Gil knew what she had really been thinking about, and she was thankful for his being...well, Gil. Whether from a lack of true curiosity or an intelligence that many liked to overlook, the fact he didn't actually try to push her about it made it all the easier for her in the end.

But also it wasn't like she hadn't indeed been worried for those who had gone into town; she trusted them, and she knew whatever might happen they should be able to handle themselves but it didn't change the way she felt at times. Worry was natural, she had come to realize, when it came to those one cared for. She didn't worry about Ursula, and she doubted the sea witch worried about her; Uma figured Mal never worried about anyone, and the pirate girl certainly never worried about the purple haired witch, not any more, not since that day at the docks. But she had worried that day, and she worried for Gil whenever the boy tried to go home, and she worried about her Wharf Rats who did have places they could possible go home to outside of the ship. Especially over those three.

Part of her did take note of Ursula's voice, now quiet, perhaps in understanding that there would be no little girl coming running in fear of the wraith of a neutered witch. Tentacles hurt when they slapped but they did little when the one they wanted to hit wasn't there to take it and Uma had far more important things to take care of; she had to figure out how to get past the barrier and she had make sure that the supplies that her friends had gone into town to collect, and those friends too, got back to the ship safely. Uma merely spared the fish and chip shop a glance, and a thought on doing a shift later on once everything had been settled on the Lost Revenge, before continuing down the boardwalk and into the primary town of the Isle.

The only actual town. No matter how many years passed Uma always found herself with some level of surprise at how busy the place could be; without Cruella racing down the streets to go to the Spa, there always seemed to be plenty of people to crowd in the streets, a hustle and bustle that made the place feel almost claustrophobic. Part of her hated it; another part loved everything about it. Though it did make finding any specific people rather difficult at times; after some walking she realized, with some minor annoyance, that she seemed to have lost track of Gil in the crowds. Uma figured the boy would reappear when it was necessary; worrying about a disappearing Gil was, as she had learned after the first few times it had happened, about as useful as worrying about the illness that always followed eating the mud coffee at the goblin's place. Pointless and did not change the fact that it was going to happen no matter what. With a sigh she forged forward, continuing to try to find her friends.

What, or rather who, she found instead made her freeze up and bristle, more like a cat than the landlocked octopus she was supposed to be. The boy before her, tall, tanned, dark haired and dark eyed, gave her a smirk; he stood up straight and though he was not honestly much taller than her, he made himself taller somehow, looking down at her. It was that, the condescending way he looked at her, that made her punch him in the gut right as he tried to say her name. And, though it was far from the first time she had done so, it still seemed to take him off guard, causing his eyes to widen for a second there before jumping back and out of the way of her fist. The smirk, having slipped for the moment, returned and he wagged a finger at her, making her eyes narrow.

“That's not very nice,” he said.

“Fuck off Jay,” she said and turned on her heel, about to leave before stopping herself; she spun back around and tried to grab at him.

The other boy, Jay, slipped out of her grasp again and she spoke through gritted teeth, “Give it back.”

“Give what back?” he asked in mocking innocence.

“You know exactly what,” she responded and held out a hand to him, fingerless glove open in an expectant gesture, “Give me back my pendant.”

“Oh you must mean this,” Jay said; from his pocket he produced her necklace, the small golden half-shell twirling on it's chain as he dangled it above her hand, “I just found it on the ground, figured it would fetch a pretty penny at my dad's shop.”

“You are not selling that at Jafar's sad excuse for a shop; now give it,” she said, trying to resist the urge to try and grab it. She had known the ex-vizier's son for more than a small portion of her life and knew that the thieving rat of a boy was quick and quite capable when it came to avoiding being caught. The only reason she had noticed was because it was her pendant he had decided to try to snatch; having worn it as long as she had, the feeling of it not being there was too jarring not to notice. Sometimes he could be so stupid.

“And who's gonna take it from me, huh Shrimpy?” The name made her twitch. No, more than twitch; it made her blood boil. Seven years, seven fucking years and it didn't stop; every time she heard it, every time someone called her that, whether behind her back or to her face, it simply made her hate Mal more, more and more. That accursed name, a curse placed by a bratty child, all because for a second Uma had laughed. Of course Mal's current lackey would call her that, knowing very well how it made her feel, his smile just growing at seeing her reaction; after all everyone knew how close he and the dragon's daughter were, as much as friends as Mal even got on this isle. As vicious as her, just as evil and a terrible person; Uma wanted that once. She didn't want it any more.

“Me~” the voice wasn't Uma's but they both knew it. Jay had a split second to react and he took it, just barely managing to sidestep the blade that came at him, a flash of silver and light in the air. He did not manage to dodge the curved impliment that followed quickly after and let out a grunt of pain as the hook embedded itself into his wrist, forcing it downwards. Blood trickled out of the puncture in his skin and Uma grabbed the necklace, pulling it free of Jay's grasp before putting it back on and speaking, “Thanks Harry.”

“ 'Course cap'n.” The taller pirate boy gave one of his characteristic grins, a playful wide number that made his eyes sparkle mischievously.

“Jay!” A fourth voice called out and through the crowds Uma felt a sense of relief upon the arrival of her other two childhood friends; Evie, grown as beautiful and graceful as befitting a princess, was wearing a tattered blue cloak over her similarly colored clothes and managing to make it look fashionable even as she carried a bag of something over one shoulder. The one who called out, looking concerned not for the blue haired pirate queen but for her enemy, walked quickly over and looked from Jay to Harry quickly; it didn't matter how many years passed, Carlos seemed to have mastered the puppy dog eyes. “Harry, please let go of him.”

A pout replaced his grin and Harry hesitated, looking like he wanted to argue. Uma and Evie and even Carlos knew it was just a ruse; he huffed and pulled his hook free of Jay's skin, replacing it on the belt he wore under his red coat. “Fine but ye owe me, Carlos~”

“Thanks Harry,” Evie said leaning over to kiss his cheek, bringing the grin back full-force with one action.

He chuckled and Carlos turned to Jay, reaching out to try to grab his arm. “Let me-”

Jay refused, pulling his hand away quickly and frowning. There was a look in his eyes, one that Uma couldn't quite read but one that pulled at something in the back of her mind; he turned from the other boy and spoke low, “It's fine, Carlos, I don't need your help.”

There was surprise in the de Vil boy's eyes and then a spark of sadness, enough to make Harry point his sword at Jay and Uma to step forward with a frown. Seeing this Carlos spoke quickly, “N-no it's okay guys, really.”

“Kid wanted tae be nice tae ye,” Harry said with a wide grin, “Betta let him.”

“Or what? I'll be beat up by some wanna-be pirates?” Jay responded venomously, the blade coming closer to his throat; he didn't flinch, standing up tall and looking right back at Harry before turning his eyes to Uma, “You should control your rabid dog, Shrimpy.”

“Guys, let's not fight here,” Evie said, putting an arm around Carlos as the boy flinched before reaching out to put her free hand on Harry's arm, giving him a stern look then looking to the pirate girl as well, “We have better things to be doing.”

Uma didn't respond at first. Finally she sighed and waved her hand. “Harry, heel. I think the street rat gets it.”

There was a twitch that did not go unnoticed in Jay's face and Harry pulled back, pulling away his blade again. Carlos seemed to breathe a breath of relief before grabbing Jay's arm, this time finding no resistance; he looked it over, joined by Evie and Uma quickly enough.

“It's just a small puncture,” the pirate said, “A little of the comfrey tincture should tend to it fine.”

“Exactly my thoughts,” Evie said with a smile before it slipped away and with wide eyes she looked at Jay; she looked down at the ground and shrunk back, causing Uma to frown again.

She didn't ask. She didn't like it but she knew better than to ask; outside of Uma's group, the kids who made up her crew and the inner circle of five, no one else knew about Evie's actual skills. To the kids of Dragon Hall, the school she had just started at only half a year ago after being allowed back into town finally, she was just the Evil Queen's daughter, a pretty face who was oddly friendly with the son of Hell Hall's infamous mistress and the pirate kids from Serpent Prep. Uma knew Evie preferred it that way, something about how boys wouldn't like her if they knew how smart she was, and that it was more important that she was pretty than anything; nevermind that Harry and Carlos and Gil and most of the other guys in the crew loved her just fine knowing her, and nevermind that Uma thought that Evie's being a genius as well as being beautiful made her one of the most appealing people on the entire isle. Jay didn't know apparently about Evie and it didn't really seem to Uma like he much cared either, preoccupied it seemed in not looking at Carlos as the boy continued to look over his arm.

The black and white haired boy noticed Evie's reaction though, always seeming to sense the emotions of others around him quicker than anyone; Uma didn't question why, knowing full well it probably stemmed from Cruella. When your mother was a monster like that no doubt you learn to read others intentions and auras quickly; more reason to punch Cruella in Uma's mind. He looked at her for a moment, and then Uma; she smiled back at him reassuringly then spoke again, “Doctor Carlos, diagnosis?”

“Tincture should do it though a bandage wouldn't hurt too,” Carlos spoke up softly, a small smile playing at his lips.

“I'm fine,” Jay said with some insistence.

“Harry's hook is far from clean-”

“Hey! I'll have ye knew I clean me hook eve'yday!” Uma snickered and Evie blushed some, joined by Carlos in that; Harry's grin said all it had to about that.

“As much as I'd love to leave you to suffer,” Uma said, “I can't have Carlos giving me those sad eyes of his again; it might just break my pirate heart.” She put her hand over her chest dramatically and more snickers, from all three of her friends this time, ensued.

“I didn't know you even had a heart, Shrimpy.” She froze up again; to one side she could hear a low threatening growl and Evie frowned. “Jay, that's-”

“T-take that back,” Carlos spoke up, looking up at the other boy with an upset expression; his fellow Dragon Hall student turned to him and he bit his lip, “You don't know what you're t-talking about so take it back. And s-stop calling her that.”

Jay was quiet for a moment then tutted, turning his head away before speaking again, “I get that you like following Shrimpy and her crew of misfits around like a puppy but that's got nothing to do with me.”

Next thing the boy knew he was on the ground, laid flat by a kick so quick and harsh it blindsided him, and Jay had Uma's sword pointed at his head, her eyes narrowed. Carlos looked a mixture of both terrified and worried, unable to quite move or speak at that moment, but the pirate queen was more than happy to do so for him, her tone venom. “I don't give two Beasts asses what you call me but you will not call Carlos that ever again, got it you thieving street rat?”

“Fuck you,” Jay groaned, glaring up at her; Uma responded by pressing the point of her sword against his throat, drawing a tiny trickle of blood.

“Uma,” the gentle voice of her oldest female friend spoke, “You can let him up.”

“Not until he apologizes.”

“Uma,” came the smaller voice of her oldest male friend and she did turn her head, glancing at the bicolored de Vil boy; he looked back at her and shook his head, “Please?”

She wanted to but she couldn't resist; with a slight cringe she pulled her sword away from Jay and sheathed it. Harry huffed and muttered about fun being ruined but both Evie and Carlos looked relieved and Uma rubbed her head. “He's not worth it anyway I guess. You kay tho Carlos?”

The boy nodded, smiling meekly back at her. “Yeah I'm good; I just....you know.”

She nodded; she didn't need him to say it and didn't want to make him do so anyway. Talking about fears on the Isle was taboo for many reasons but Uma found that making her crew, any of them not simply the four other members of her core group, uncomfortable by bringing up what darkest dreads they had within them made her unhappy as well. And hitting Carlos' particular phobia made her want to hit Jay.

The other Dragon Hall student got to his feet, dusting himself and seeming it appeared to try to make himself look less like he had been dropped by the smaller girl; Uma simply watched him for a second, saying nothing about it, until finally her attention was tore away again. There was a voice, calling out her name, and it wasn't one of the four standing around there, nor was it her mother's; still she knew it and the urgency in it made her frown before trying to track where it was coming from, joined by the gazes of Evie, Carlos, Jay and Harry as well.

Seeing Gil running at them, pushing through the crowd, had the effect of momentary relief, for four of them at least, as it meant the bulky boy wasn't lost anymore. The look on his face and the way the people scattered as they saw the beings following him, turned that relief quickly and violently sour; most of the goblins on the Isle were merchants, savagers, workers. But there were the small number that still cling to an old order, the ones that followed the self-proclaimed queen of the Isle and worked only for her, and there was not a single person, even among the Wharf Rats who disdained and despised the dark fairy who ruled the Isle with every inch of their malnourished bodies, who did not dread the sight of those few goblins. Once the muscular pirate boy reached them Uma moved, taking up a stance between her friends and the advancing guards on his heels, hand going for the sword once more; she didn't know what they wanted but nothing told her anything good when it involved Maleficient's remaining minions.

She barely noticed it at first but out of the corner of her eye she saw the others move as well, Evie come up at one side of her, hand resting upon the thin almost decorative, but certainly deadly, rapier she wore at her own side, Gil standing beside the evil princess in all his muscular majesty, looking ready for a fight. Harry stood at her other side, grinning, a wild look in his eyes as he narrowed them in anticipation, and Carlos joined, with some hesitation; Uma opened her mouth to say something, not entirely comfortable with the boy fighting, worried for him but knowing she couldn't really stop him. Still he was quickly pushed back and Jay stepped forward, seeming to whisper something to Carlos inaudible but that made her narrow her eyes a little before facing the guards once more.

The goblins stopped and it occurred to Uma that they were all alone suddenly; the street was empty, all the people that had once crowded the sidewalks and roadways having disappeared like a Cheshire Cat into the shadows of Wonderland. She swallowed back the unease that left in her and stood up as straight as she could before stepping forward. As leader of the Wharf Rats it was her duty, she told herself, to step up, to handle whatever trouble might come; from that first day she met Evie, from the day they saved Carlos, from the day she had required saving by Harry, she had made this decision. To protect them; it was just funny, a voice in her head told her, how they followed, how Evie and Carlos and Harry and Gil all stepped up behind her, how they didn't seem willing to let her face it alone. Still it was her who spoke, addressing the goblins. “What do you pests want?”

“That smart mouth'll get you killed,” mumbled Jay looking less than impressed by Uma's words; still it wasn't like she was the only one who thought of them as more of pests than anything else. It was what they represented, the person that they worked for, that terrified the townspeople so, not the grubby cretins themselves after all.

“Mistress wants tae see ye,” said one of the more articulate ones, looking up at Uma.

She snorted and turned to Harry, unable to resist a comment. “Hey look, he talks like you.”

“Nae, it ain't ha'f as charmin',” Harry spoke with a practical purr, winking.

“He's about as handsome,” Evie commented then put her hands over her mouth with a grin, Harry letting out a dramatic groan; Uma laughed out loud and Carlos barely tried to hide his own chuckles.

“I'm hurt, princess,” Harry gasped, putting a hand over his chest.

“I think Harry is much more handsome than the goblin,” Gil piped up, blinking, “I mean he's definitely taller.”

Uma couldn't help but burst out laughing harder and Harry pretended to be struck by that as Evie and Carlos both shook in amusement; Jay watched, eyebrow raised at the ease at which the five of them fell in revelry.

The guards seemed less than amused but there was plenty of hesitation; they were stupid but completely brainless. They pushed at each other before one goblin was thrown at the group, falling to the ground. All laugh stopped immediately and they looked down on the poor creature, pushing itself back before speaking, “Mis'ress!”

It was Harry's turn to raise an eyebrow and he turned his head to look at Uma; he grinned. “Well, cap'n? Shall we grace the evil fae with our presence?”

“Might as well,” Uma said and started to walk, her hand staying on her cutlass' handle.

Her friends didn't hesitate, quickly following right beside her; Jay stood there for a moment until one of the goblins poked him and as he turned his gaze down it pointed towards where the group was going. Furrowing his brow he looked that way, out at where the broken down tower that was the Bargain Castle, the shop/home to Maleficent. As well as Uma's least favorite person in the whole of existence.

 

So of course Jay knew what was about to happen when they walked inside, the goblins moving as if to try to make it seem like they were making them go there but at the same time fidgeting and trying to jump out of the way as Harry, with a giggle, kept trying to stab them with his hook, until Uma slapped his arm and gave him a look that made him stop. Her attention was quickly pulled away as they did arrive and her eyes fell upon a familiar form.

It took Gil, Carlos and Harry together to hold Uma back and the speed with which they all moved made it clear how often this happened to begin with. Carlos had hold of one of the sea witch's arms, while Harry had another and Gil had his arms wrapped around her middle, pulling her back. Evie moved in front of them, back to the evil faeries standing before them as she spoke to Uma, “Uma, come on, calm down, it's okay.”

“Aw what's wrong, Shrimpy?” said the younger fae, a sickeningly cruel smile creeping across her face, arms crossed, “Not happy to see me?”

“I'mma cut her,” Uma said in a low voice.

“What a violent little girl,” said the older one, raising an eyebrow at her before smiling in a way far too like her daughter, “I'm pleased to see that not only has my little girl managed to elicit such a reaction from others but that tales of your behavior are not true. I'd heard my dear friend Ursula's daughter had become a good girl.”

Uma frowned and dug her nails into her hands tight; from his side Carlos whispered to her, “Uma, it's not worth it, please.”

“Damnit,” she muttered but after a minute she relaxed, causing her friends to do so as well.

“Hey Jay,” Mal said waving to the boy, “Any reason you were hanging with Shrimpy and her army of twerps and freaks?”

He shrugged, trying to play off the unease he was feeling at the moment, sensing something wasn't quite right. “Not reason; just ran into them in town.”

“Well it's good for us that you did; saved us the effort in having to round you all up,” Maleficent said.

Carlos turned to look at the Isle ruler. “Did you need us for something?”

“We certainly did.” The expression on his face when he heard the voice was pure terror, simple as that, and Evie and Uma's first reaction was to grab the boy and hold him between them, both glaring towards where the voice seemed to be going towards; even Evie found herself with anger bubbling up as the older woman walked out of the shadows, long smoking pipe hanging from her fingers. Carlos grabbed onto both of his friends' shirts, stuttering as he spoke, “M-m-m-mother?”

“Evie, my girl what are you doing?! And what are you wearing?” The next voice took Evie off guard and her attention was thrown in another direction as her own mother came out of the woodwork.

Harry, Gil and Jay frowned and all found themselves stepping closer to the central three as more villains appeared. Namely their own parents; Harry and Gil were never very happy to see their fathers, least of all in a situation like this, and while Jay perhaps had the best familial relationship of those brought together there, seeing Jafar with Cruella, the Evil Queen, Captain Hook, Gaston and Maleficent did not strike him as a good thing. His head turned towards Uma, realizing something; her mother, where was Ursula?

For her part the pirate queen seemed less than concerned but her eyes scanned the room anyway, aware as he was too that there was only one villain parent missing. She wasn't certain whether to feel it was a good thing or bad that Ursula wasn't there but she did know that she was not about to let go of either Carlos or Evie in this situation. And neither seemed about to let go of her, Harry grabbing hold of Uma's jacket with the hand not holding his hook, Gil pressing his back against them just enough to know: his friends had his back.

“What's going on?” Uma spoke up, remembering her decision.

“Me boy, what are you doing?” James Hook spoke shaking his head as his son stood there with one hand gripping Uma's clothes, the other gripping a hook.

“Could ask yae tha same ques'ion, pops,” Harry said grinning, the edge of his lips twitching; Evie grabbed his arm, the one clinging to Uma, and squeezed.

“Now now, we should give the children a chance to know why they were brought here,” Maleficient said, her tone almost sweet but a chill ran through all others within the room; magic or no, the woman knew how to command a room.

Jafar approached his son and leaned in. “So did you get anything good?”

Jay tried to smile. “Got some stuff. Show ya later, dad.”

The ex-vizar looked pleased and the young man almost felt warm, quickly brushed away a chill rolling down his back; he turned to see Maleficent watching them and he gulped. Mal chuckled, seeming amused to see him squirm, something that he expected; as much as they played at “friends” he had no illusions. Mal didn't see him as a friend as much as someone to talk about the terrible things she thought, did or thought to do. _At the very least it's nothing like what Uma and her group have_ , a little voice in his head said, one that he tried to shake away the moment he heard it. He did not feel envious.

“So what is it, Lady Maleficent?” Evie said in her sweetest most accomodating voice; she swallowed her own squeak as Maleficent's gaze turned onto her, and Uma pulled her just a little closer.

The evil faerie smiled. “Glad you asked. You children have a wonderful opportunity to be of actual use to the Isle and to me, and of course I expect you to take it~”

“And that would be?” Carlos managed to say, looking over from between his two friends.

“Auradon has decided to allow a few chosen kids from the Isle to come to the mainland to go to school,” she continued almost like she didn't hear him, stepping towards them; they froze up but the collected group did their best not to move away from her, trying not to show their actual feelings about her more than they had.

She held her staff, a derelict of the past, no longer alit with the power it should have had yet managing to still give off a sense of danger; if they didn't know magic couldn't exist on the Isle they would have probably been overtaken by the image of her, the dark faerie, the monster among monsters, Maleficent herself. She walked around them, seeming to almost be looking them over and Uma and Evie immediately dropped their arms from around Carlos, though they stayed near him; she might not be as scary as she once was but she was still scary and every hair on their bodies stood on edge watching her circle them like a shark. Her daughter joined her and Uma's eyes fixated on Mal particularly, finding a pair of malicious green eyes staring back at her in return.

Suddenly and with a flourish Maleficent stopped and held out her arms, Mal almost walking into her mother in the process but managing to stop right in time as the older fae spoke, “And those chosen few would be-”

“Us?” Gil interrupted and Harry quickly put a hand over his mouth, giving the boy a look that if it had been a sword might have been sharp enough to actually cut rock; Uma tried not to groan but was somewhat thankful for the thoughtless action. It got her out of her glaring contest with Mal; it was so hard for her sometimes not to focus on her nemesis.

Maleficent was silent for a moment but the other villains weren't; namely Gaston seemed to find it funny and started to laugh, loud and obnoxious. At least until Captain Hook smacked him; Harry winced as the two elder villains, once the height of their own skills and abilities, now mere shadows, started to go at it. He lowered his hand and glared at Gil. “Lookit what ye done, lad.”

“Sorry,” Gil said sheepishly.

“It's okay Gil,” Uma said and reached up to awkwardly pat his shoulder, “Your old man and Harry's were bound to get into a fight.”

“Pops' an ass so she got tha righ',” Harry said and chuckled.

Captain Hook seemed to hear that and turned towards his son, straightening up before marching over to his son. “What was that boy?”

Harry froze for a second before speaking, “Ye heard me, old man.”

The older pirate's eyes narrowed and Harry stepped back, right into Gil and Uma, the latter of which glared back at the man. “You are an ass, Hook, get over yourself.”

“What a naughty girl, talking back to her superiors like that,” Maleficent said and smiled, walking over; she grabbed Uma's chin and Evie looked to Carlos and Harry with terror in her eyes. Both boys stepped up and Jay joined them as they went to Uma's side, only for her to raise a hand to stop them; she wasn't about to put them in any danger after all and she could feel the malice rolling off the magicless witch.

“You know, I have heard many stories about you, little Uma,” the woman continued in a smooth tone, “How you collect up all the little worthless urchins off the street, make them a part of that crew of yours; you even got yourself a nice little ship at the docks, don't you? Call yourself the Dock Mice or something like that?”

“Wharf Rats,” Uma said trying to not sound like she was trying to correct her too much; she could see Mal smirking out of the corner of her eye and she clenched her fists.

“Right,” Maleficent said and her grip on Uma's face tightened, making the girl straighten up, “Well I think you and your Wharf Rats need to learn a very important lesson.”

“And what would that be?” she asked calmly.

The dark faerie smirked and let go of her, nearly throwing her away; Uma staggered a bit and found herself held carefully by her friends, standing beside her. The older villainess spoke again, an almost playful tone in her voice, “Why, to respect your elders of course. It's not just a matter of survival on the Isle, not upsetting the adults around you; I mean I'm sure you know how happily some of us are to hurt you youngsters.”

A chill and a pit into her stomach; Uma immediately remembered and she did not want to remember. She reached back and found a hand, gripping it before glancing back; Evie looked back at her and gave her a reassuring smile. Though in her eyes the sea witchlet saw the same fearsome memory, that day, that horrid experience...

Maleficent continued. “Auradon will expect it of you as well; they're such goody-two-shoes over there, believing in goodness and love and friendship and trust and showing respect to those older than you because it's right, not because they could snap you like a twig.”

“That's assuming we go to Auradon.” The words left Uma before she could even stop herself and part of her couldn't believe they even did. Leaving the Isle, getting free of it was one of her greatest dreams; it consumed her thoughts when nothing else remained, and sometimes even when there was plenty to do. If Maleficent wasn't lying then this was her chance; not only that it was THEIR chance. Evie, Carlos, Gil, Harry, they all got to come with her; she could escape this hellish prison and she could escape it with her best friends, the people who had been by her side since she was just a little girl unable to get the stench of shrimp out of her hair.

But there was something seriously wrong. There were many things wrong. Jay was going too and she didn't want to go anywhere with the ally of her greatest enemy, a petty stupid reason, befitting a bad guy, a villain's child. But it felt so small compared to the other problems; yes Harry,Gil, Carlos and Evie could come....but that left the other Wharf Rats, all the other kids who she had been watching out for all this time. She could escape but by doing so wouldn't she also be betraying them? Being a villain meant caring more about oneself than others, wasn't that what they were always taught, but Uma couldn't help but feel bad about the mere idea of leaving the rest of them behind, leave them without even the other core members there to watch out for them, to guide and lead them.

Then there was Maleficent; after the words had left Uma's lips there seemed to be a pause in the elder villainess reaction then her eyes turned cold and Harry by instinct held out his hook in defense of Uma, Evie and Gil moving to try to cover her. Even Jay looked concerned and stepped forward; the dark faerie seemed less than impressed and grabbed the pirate queen, pulling her harshly towards her once more, gripping her arm tight.

“If you don't want anything to happen to your gang of useless children, then you will go to Auradon and you will do as I tell you.” Her tone was as cold as her eyes; Uma kept her gaze though. She was scared, she really was, but she didn't want to say she was. She didn't want to show she was. Because she was the leader of the Wharf Rats and Maleficent just threatened them; she had to stand strong against that.

“What do my Wharf Rats have to do with anything?”

“I know what you've been up to, Uma,” Maleficent said, practically hissing it, “I know you and that girl Evie and that pathetic boy Carlos have been doing...good,” she said the word like it was a disease, a curse worse than anything she could cast, “Making medicine, taking in homeless kids, taking care of them; you're a disgrace to your mother's legacy and honestly I would rather destroy all of you right now. We can't have your element running around, giving the citizens hope for something nice; we're villains, and you're the children of villains. You should act like it, it's as easy as stealing candy from a baby, even Mal can do that much yet it looks like none of you are capable of something so simple as that.”

“I expected such from Carlos at least,” Cruella spoke and the boy in question tried not to shake, “He's always been an useless little worm, can't even handle my furs properly, always so clumsy. Isn't he Baby?” she petted the stuffed dog she wore around her shoulders, causing him to falter, a whimper passing his lips, followed by a scream as she grinned and made it look like the dog tried to jump at Carlos with a bark. She laughed cruelly and Harry glared back at her.

“I'm mostly disappointed that Evie hasn't been working on her makeup,” The Evil Queen said with a sigh, “God knows the girl needs it; I mean look at you, dearie. How do you expect to get anyone to fall for you if you don't put any effort forth? God knows you've no actual natural beauty, not like me~”

“I guess running with a bunch of losers is about as good as Gil can hope for; they make him actually look almost good enough to be called my son,” Gaston said with a toothy grin.

“Are you calling me boy a loser, you sad landlubber?” Captain Hook said to the Frenchman, eyes narrowed.

“Don't fight,” Maleficent said in a quick harsh voice and both men stopped, staring at her; she thought kept her eyes on Uma and seeing her not stepping down, the dark faerie smirked, “You want to do some 'good', Shrimpy?” Uma shuddered but didn't respond, “Then here's what you'll do; you'll go to Auradon like the obedient tool you are, you and your little band of misfits and Jafar's son too, and you will steal Fairy Godmother's wand.”

The sea witchlet's eyes widened slightly; the wand of Fairy Godmother was a legend, even on the Isle. Perhaps more so there where all magic was as good as a story at this point. The thought of what Maleficent could want with it, it would have to be nothing good and Uma wanted to ask, was curious to know but didn't. Nor did any of her group or Jay, all of them staying silent as Maleficent continued her speech, “Once you do get it you will break down the barrier, bring it to me and once it's in my possession then maybe I'll rethink making life even harder for you and your throwaways. You don't and well...”

“I'll have fun finding as many ways as possible to torture them and you more,” Mal spoke up and chuckled maliciously; Uma couldn't help but glare over at the girl then wince lightly as Maleficent squeezed her arm tightly.

“Do you understand, girl?” Uma turned her attention back to the Isle's ruler and stared at her for a moment. As it stood it seemed like there was not much of a choice: she either leave the Isle and do as Maleficent wants, abandoning the majority of her crew and halting the medical supplies she had been working on with Evie and Carlos for seven years, or find out exactly how much worse things could get for them. It wasn't like she gave half a care for Auradon or the Fairy Godmother; stealing the wand was not something she could care much about in terms of hurting Auradon. No, rather, if it was to hurt Auradon, who had trapped them there, left the children to rot and suffer, without a care to what might happen on an island of monsters and villains, then Uma was all for it. It was the leaving of the other Wharf Rats that she could not bring herself to come to grips with; she turned to looked to the others.

Evie looked conflicted but more than a sadness etched deep in her face had her gaze turned downwards; the critique from her mother, as normal as it was for her, always seemed to cut deep and it bothered the other blue haired girl to see Evie look so unhappy. As for Carlos he looked absolutely terrified and was shaking like a leaf, eyes wide as he continued to stare, then look away, and stare again at the dog around his mother's shoulders; Jay reached out to place a hand on the boy's shoulder and pulled him closer, a look almost like caring on his face. Gil looking at his feet much like Evie though he didn't look half as sad, used as well to his father's abuse, and Harry watched Maleficent and Uma very intently and very carefully. Only Jay looked any level of unbothered with Uma's situation but he certainly struck her as concerned with her least battle ready crewmember. Uma couldn't get all the Wharf Rats out but she could get them out. Or rather she couldn't get them all out yet; a thought crossed her mind and she wondered if it might work, if she could do it. Maleficent didn't need to know.

She bit her lip, she took a breath; no there really was no choice in this situation. “Fine, we'll go.”

At the very least though she would make this work for her, her and her crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Wow this....turned out way longer than I expected XD But oddly I'm proud of it; it took forever to start but once i got it started it just flowed.
> 
> A time skip and now everyone's ready for the main event: going to Auradon! Uma's got a plot but what exactly will happen to her when she and her group get to the pretty land of princesses and princes? Will she ever not hate Jay? Will Harry ever put down his hook? Will Carlos ever stop being so adorable? Well my dear Wharf Rats, we'll just have to see next chapter. I promise, I have some fun in order for them in place of that lovely little welcome scene from the first movie (you know the one, the one with Audrey and Ben and uuuggghhhh).
> 
> Until next time tho bye-bi!~)


	4. Welcome to Auradon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A group of friends, and one not-so-much, find themselves surrounded by magic for the first time in their lives. Jay fights, Carlos and Gil feast, Uma tries to be the queen still and a selfish princess gets bitten for her insults. But the shadows carry secrets and the adventure in Auradon is just starting for the Wharf Rats.

It still stuck in her mind that Uma was abandoning the rest of the Wharf Rats; it persisted even as her crew and Jay were allowed to leave, temporarily given the chance to go collect what little they wished to bring with them, and the young pirate queen and her friends instead of going to the houses they were supposed to call home they made their way back to the Lost Revenge instead. Their true home. Evie and Carlos rushed around grabbing what they felt they might want with them, Harry and Gil did a check over of the ship to make sure that, no matter how long they might be gone, at least their home would still stay afloat while they were gone. And Uma, Uma took the responsibility of the captain: she gathered as many of the Wharf Rats as were around and her chest felt tight as she explained the situation, told the orphans and runaways and throwaways that she had protected for years now, that she and Evie and Carlos and Harry and Gil were going to be leaving them to go to the very place that was a part of their problems.

Part of her expected hatred or accusations of abandonment, but even before she could tell them her thoughts, the plans she had brewing up inside her mind, they seemed happy. They were glad Uma and the others were getting off the Isle, that they were at least escaping; it made Uma feel all the more worse and losing some composure for a moment, she spilled all about her plan to them, trying so hard to prove she was not abandoning them. Maleficent's words echoed in her mind, calling her a goody-two-shoes, saying how she should act more like a villain's child, that Ursula had to be ashamed of the person her daughter had become. But it mattered nothing to her; she hadn't cared about the stigma of the word good for a long time now. What she cared about was the Wharf Rats and all the other kids of the Isle who were also not what their parents might want of them. Still it stuck and as the core five made their way off the ship, with goodbyes and playful threats about letting the ship sink, promises of seeing one another again and a passing sadness of parting over all, Uma had to take a few deep breaths before the tightness let go of her.

They met back up with Jay near where the goblins had found them before and it was there they also found the strange long black car, shiny and new, standing out among the mud and squalor of the town. Carlos' eyes widened and he looked over at Evie and Uma by an instinct; neither though were any less in awe of the strange vehicle than them. Harry took a step, a mischievous glint in his eyes and his hook in his hand causing Uma to snap out of her own trance to groan and grab his arm, pulling him back.

“Don't you dare, you crazy pirate,” she told him with some stern and just a little amusement; she could not completely hold back a small smirk at the thought of him vandalizing the Auradonian car.

“Just a little scratch,” Harry mused almost seeming to beg but she pulled on his arm little firmer and he huffed slightly before lowering his weapon and returning it to his belt, a sign of his surrender. She accepted it and let go of his arm in return.

“Can we get in now?” Jay asked, half asking the crew but looking over the car at a strange man in a black suit and hat; Uma and the others hadn't really noticed him, the car itself seeming far more interesting to them but now that the ex-vizier's son had spoken to him, the other five couldn't help but look to him as well.

The man nodded. “You can put your bags in the trunks and climb into the back.”

“So Carlos donnae have tae ride in a trunk? Progress,” Harry half joked and before Uma and Evie could move had already stolen their things and gone towards the back of the car with Jay; both girls took a second to blink before shaking their heads. The boy's random bouts of chivalry were to say the least confusing but not in a bad way to tell the truth.

Carlos gave a slight pout at the joke about him and joined the girls and Gil in opening one of the doors so that they could all pile inside and once the last of the group of six had gotten in they all wondered at the largeness of the space.

As well as the strange foods; even Jay who lived in town and was friends with Mal had not often, or really ever, had food that wasn't rotten or at least a few days older than it perhaps should be. And certainly he hadn't seen anything like what this car had inside. The strange man had climbed into the front and they could hear the car starting up but in that moment the boys seemed more interested in getting into the things in front of them. Harry grabbed a handful and blinked at the strangely colorful ovals in his hand before Uma reached over and stole some; he furrowed his brow and glared at her but she simply popped one into her mouth and offered her own small handful to Evie who took one as well and ate it. The taste was like nothing either girl had had before; sweet and hard but not stale, not stale at least. It seemed to almost melt on Uma's tongue and there was a different milky sort of taste under that, also sweet and she found she didn't want to cough it. It didn't make her stomach retch putting it into her mouth.

“It's so salty,” Carlos said as he ate some of the brown items, stuffing them into his mouth with some enthusaism, “And sweet; it's really good!~”

“Hey let me see,” Jay said and Carlos opened his mouth, an action that made Jay make a disgusted face before pushing him away and the rest of the Wharf Rats in the car to laugh. Gil followed Carlos' example, shoving food into his mouth and making a noise that sounded almost sexual in natural, gaining him an elbow in the stomach by Harry, though the smirk on the latter's face did not seem to suggest disturbance as much as amusement.

“Uma, look,” Evie spoke up, tugging on her sleeve and the pirate queen turned her head to look at her upon noting the slight panic in her voice; the princess pointed out of the window and Uma glanced out, frowning almost immediately.

They were approaching the bridge, the very edge of the Isle and the barrier, though truth be told calling it a bridge was a large misnomer. It wasn't one; beyond the edge of the Isle there was little more than a crumbling dead end that looked over the water and of which they were going towards, very fast, and without any sign of stopping. Uma's eyes widened and she called out to the others, grabbing Harry's arm and tugging hard when the boys didn't respond at first. The pirate boy complained immediately but was silenced when he saw what the two young women did as well and he yelled, gaining the other two boys attention. A state of panic spread and what went through Uma's head, as Evie grabbed onto her and Harry pulled them to him as if he was planning on protecting them somehow from the plunge into the water and Jay and Carlos hugged each other tight and Gil tried to duck and cover for whatever reason, accidentally knocking some of the food onto the others, was that they were going to die. That Maleficient had lied and this was a trick to kill them, get rid of the undesireable element on the Isle like she had said; Uma had led her friends into their death and this was going to be horrible. It didn't matter to her that there was no way Maleficent would have been able to plan this; she was too busy trying to think of how to get out of there, how easily they might be able to break the windows so they could swim back to safety. The Wharf Rats all knew how to swim after all, so she wasn't worried about that, but they'd need to get out of the car first and that wouldn't be too easy but she didn't want her friends to die, nor did she want Jay to die really even though he pissed her off, and she certainly didn't want to die herself. The dead end was getting closer and closer and for a second they all closed their eyes, prepared for the feeling of falling, of their imminent injury if not death.

But none came; moments passed and the car kept going and nothing came. Uma was the first to open her eyes, peaking out to see something fascinating. “Guys, look!”

They obeyed, even Jay. Outside the window they could golden light, swirling around them and they seemed to be driving over a shimmering golden path, and even those whose bloodlines didn't include blood, they all knew what it was.

“Magic,” Evie whispered in wonderment and none of them could tear their eyes away. Magic, it was real magic, true and actual magic like the kind that Jay's father, Evie's mother, Maleficent and Ursula all had once commanded. And Uma could swear she could almost felt a tingle in her arms, the smallest sort of warmth on her chest where the golden half-shell hung; the barrier was down, they were off the Isle, and the pirate queen, the sea witchling, could swear she felt something inside her awaken.

“Awesome,” Harry finally spoke after another moment of silence and awe passed and was the first to turn his gaze from the golden lights and towards the smaller window that let them see into the front seat of the car, “Hey, how did ye do tha? How'd ye lower thae barrier?”

It was a question they all wanted to know the answer to and all six pairs of eyes were turned now to the driver. The man smirked lightly and held up a small remote with two buttons on it, putting his thumb over the larger one. “This is the button that controls the barrier.”

“And the other one?” Carlos asked with fascination, his eyes wide and if Uma wasn't full of interest over this whole thing herself, she might have chuckled at seeing the inquisitive boy's ever-present curiosity and need for knowledge showing up again.

The man continued the smirk and pushed the second button. “It closes the window.”

With that the window between them started to close and the teens were in some shock, only recovering after it had closed. At that point they all seemed to let out a combined groan and settled back down.

 

The trip was nowhere as long as it could have been though after watching Jay, Carlos and Gil eat what had to have been enough strange candy to give them a stomachache, especially considering none of them had had food as fresh and good as any of this, and Harry started snoring because somehow he managed to fall asleep, Uma was ready to get out of the car at any time. Still she chatted a little with Evie, sharing thoughts on what they might come across in Auradon.

“I'm excited to meet some princes,” Evie said with a small giggle and played with her hair some.

“Yeah but they'll all be worthless, you know that,” Uma retorted.

“I'm sure that's not true; I'm sure they'll be amazing, handsome and strong and,” Evie said before sighing dreamily; Uma understood Evie's obsession but it still worried her at times. To Uma princes were basically pointless; what use to her were dreams of men on white horses when the only princes she really knew were Iracebeth's snotnosed troublemaking sons. She knew that Evie was partially just holding onto her mother's expectations, the expectations she had grown up and had verbally beaten into her, but there was also a part of the young girl who seemed to believe in it. Believe that she needed a prince to be complete, to be perfect, and it was that that bothered Uma ultimately, because she believed Evie perfect just the way she was.

“I just look forward to one day going back to our crew,” Uma said and there was a silence again; she glanced around to see strange looked on her Wharf Rats faces, almost sad but more reminscing she thought. Perhaps they missed the others too and felt guilty leaving them behind; that made Uma feel bad now and she spoke again, “But until then let's try to have some fun; show those Auradonian kids what we villain kids can do.”

“Yea,” Harry said and grinned again, looking to the others, “Those landlubbers won't know what hit them.”

“Let's try to stick together at least,” Carlos piped up and looked to Jay, “All of us; we know how Auradon sees our parents and I doubt they'll really think much differently of us. We'll need to support each other if we're going to survive around these people.”

“I guess I can play nice with you goody-goodies,” Jay said shrugging nonchalantly, “Though I don't see how you idiots with all your good,” he made a slight face, “intentions will possibly really be out of place here around other idiots.”

“We're still from the Isle though,” Gil spoke up blinking, “Do you really think the Auradon kids will want to look past that to see who we really are?”

No one answered. It was always troubling when Gil of all people seemed to hit on the most profound of inquiries but none of them really thought they could say anything to contradict him. He was right, they didn't think anyone in Auradon would really see them as anything other than the children of Jafar, Ursula, Gaston, the Evil Queen, Cruella de Vil and Captain Hook. Uma didn't care about that though.

This was perhaps why when, as they drove by the sign for Auradon Prep, the whole group of them was taken off guard by what looked to be a wave of students all standing around and waving, seeming to be excited for them to be there, villain kids, Isle kids. Carlos inched closer to Harry and the pirate boy growled some out the window in annoyance; Gil seemed not to believe his eyes and Evie looked to Uma with confusion on her face, as if expecting her to have an answer. Of course the pirate queen didn't but she swallowed her own surprise and tried to make herself look as unbothered as possible, and as the car finally came to a stop, in front of a playing band that honestly did much more to put them off ease than at it, and the door was opened, she moved to try to leave first.

And was beaten by an uncoordinated movement from the others, every one of them trying to leave at the same time and ending up tumbling out of the car along with some of the food from before and what looked to be a long rather pretty blue cloth that Jay had stolen from somewhere, all into one big pile. Uma would have been embarrassed if she could actually think straight at the moment but her mind was still trying to catch up and figure out everything that was going on.

“I'mma kill ye!” Harry was the first of the group to talk and the loud declaration of murder seemed to disorient the band enough to make them suddenly and a bit off note stop playing, staring at the mass of kids before them; Uma was not too sure if he was actually threatening them, though they seemed to think so and started to step back in fear, or if he was yelling it at Jay who seemed to have also gotten his hands on the hook. Maybe both; Carlos tried to get the hook back, probably to prevent a fight between the other two boys in public here in Auradon, but Jay seemed less than willing to give it back and it became a sort of tug of war and light argument. Gil was on the bottom of the pile, facedown and was saying something but as he was talking into the cement, no one seemed to hear or understand exactly what it was. Evie quickly dislodged herself and dusted herself off, tucking her hair behind her ear to try to make herself presentable before helping Uma up; the other witch smiled gently and both turned their gaze to the boys with some disappointment. Harry had grabbed the cloth Jay had in his other hand and Uma groaned a bit, putting her hand over her eyes as now Jay was fighting both the pirate and the bicolored genius on top of Gil on the ground. What a wonderful first impression.

“What are you doing?” A sickeningly sweet voice broke through and Uma peeked out between her fingers to see another trio approach.

This one consisted of an older woman in blue clothes with a white collar and large pink bow around his neck and two younger people, about their age; the one to the woman's right was a tall boy and Uma had no doubt of who that one had to be. The one to the left was female, beautiful, regal, obviously a princess type; she was the one who looked the most disturbed by what was going on though she was barely hiding it and the older woman had a strained sort of smile of her face. Harry and the other boys didn't stop fighting; Uma moved to swiftly give him a kick in the pants, making him yelp and let go of the cloth, falling off of Gil and onto the ground with a thump. The loss of one competitor set Jay off balance as well and he fell the opposite direction, letting go of the hook which Carlos just barely kept hold of as he too fell backwards. Evie couldn't help a small chuckled and Uma sighed. “Get up, idiots.”

Harry, Carlos and even Gil all did so, pulling themselves up at the command of their leader and Harry even had the good sense to look sheepish, not that she or Evie or even the older woman seemed to believe it; Carlos rubbed his head and looked down at his feet in embarrassment. Jay dusted himself off, joining the group again and still holding the cloth in one hand.

“Sorry,” he muttered with little sincerity; Carlos handed Harry his hook and the pirate took it with a big old grin again, putting it back on his belt before ruffling the shorter boy's hair in a form of thanks. Carlos smiled and whined a bit.

“It's best to leave things as you found them,” the older woman said with a bit of a singsong voice but there was a mild threat there too; Jay straightened up and threw the cloth back into the car, Uma still not sure where he had even gotten it.

The thief looked over at the teens with the older woman and seemed to settle upon the girl; a smirk crossed his lips and Uma groaned, rolling her eyes as he walked up to her, “Well hello there, beautiful. Name's Jay.”

“Is he really trying to flirt?” Gil whispered to Harry and the pirate boy nodded.

“Aye, and doin' a bangup job of it tae,” Harry mused with a small smirk as the girl giggled a bit and looked a bit embarrassed by it. Only for the older woman to step in.

“Welcome to Auradon Prep,” she said insistently and Jay froze up, looking down at her in confusion.

“Thanks,” Uma said, calling attention back to the rest of the Isle kids and Harry stepped forward to drag Jay back over to them.

“I am Fairy Godmother,” the older woman said with a small bow and Uma had to remind herself to not roll her eyes at this, nor to retort that of course the woman was because it was obvious that the woman wearing a baby blue smock with the massive pink bow had to be the one and only Fairy Godmother, one of the most powerful magic users in all of Auradon. But saying so would probably seem rude.

“The Fairy Godmother, really?” Carlos asked blinking a few times, “Like 'Bipitty-Boppitty' and all that?”

“Bippity-Boppity, you know it,” Fairy Godmother responded and Harry snorted back a laugh, Uma unable help a small smile of amusement.

Evie smiled as well. “I always wondered what it was like for Cinderella, you know, you showing up like you did when she needed it. Must have been so surprising.”

“Yeah,” Uma said picking up the line of commenting, “You with all your magic and your wand, making mice into carriages and torn dressed beautiful again. With that big sparkly wand of yours.” Which didn't seem to be with the woman interestingly enough.

“That's all in the past,” the older fae spoke with a smile and hand gestures to match, “Here we like to loo to the future instead~”

Uma looked to Carlos and Harry who both looked over at her as well; part of her wanted to shudder in disturbance at the way the woman spoke and acted, yet more was rather put off guard. There was a implication to her voice, like it wasn't just the events of Cinderella's ball that were in the past, like there was more to it. And another part that was more irritated than anything; after all if that was the past, if the actions of Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters were truly just the “past”, then why were they still on the Isle, why was any of the villains?

Before she or any of her less well behaved friends could say a word about it, the tall boy had stepped forward and his smile was more welcoming than anything the Fairy Godmother or the teenage girl had givent them. He seemed to ooze sincerity and offered his hand to them, “It's so nice to finally meet you all. I'm Ben-”

“Prince Benjamin actually,” the other girl had interrupted, with an enthusasm and adoration in her voice that made even Evie look rather startled for a moment; the young woman stepped forward and gazed at Ben lovingly, “Soon to be king~”

Evie recovered and stepped forward, flashing the light sort of smile that on the Isle almost had a guarantee of stealing the hearts of any boy who looked upon it, and than a few girls as well. She offered her hand as well, daintly and with the sweetness of a cultured princess, exactly what she was. “You had to me at prince. My mother is a queen which would make me a princess~”

“The Evil Queen has no royal standing here in Auradon,” The other girl spoke, still smiling as she shoo her head, “And neither do you.”

Evie's face fell but the Wharf Rats did not; Uma, Harry, Gil and Carlos all stepped forward, followed rather unexpectedly by Jay, all of them frowning. Harry glared and growled at the other girl who stepped back with wide, frightened eyes along with a startled Fairy Godmother, Jay shaking his head and both Carlos and Gil spoke gently to Evie, asking if she was okay. The blue haired girl simply nodded, looking down.

Uma did not stop herself, her voice dripping with venom and she felt the tingle in her arms again, concentrating around her hands now and much stronger. “She's more of a princess than you.”

“Yea, our princess at least knows how tae treat people good,” Harry spoke harshly and Carlos nodded in agreement.

“Prettier too,” Gil said and the other girl gasped in actual shock, staring at him. It would have amused them if they weren't annoyed at that moment.

“Definitely prettier,” Uma agreed and turned to Evie, lowering her voice to a whisper so only they and the boys could hear, “Ignore her; we know you're a princess, Evie; you're our princess.”

Evie cracked a bit of a smile and nodded, trying to hold back tears and Ben spoke up, “I'm sorry about Audrey, she didn't mean to upset you, did you Audrey?”

The girl looked at him again and was silent for a moment before quickly shaking her head. “No of course not, I'm sorry.”

“We believe him,” Harry said still glaring before pulling away from Evie and cracking his neck, “Still, ye the son of the Beast eh?” he turned to Gil, “Gilly boy here is the son of ye dad's rival. Say hi Gilly.”

“Hi Gilly,” Gil said with a smile and a wave at Ben, taking the prince back a bit, “Don't worry, there's no hard feelings; your mom's probably happier with your dad than she would have been with mine.”

“Oh um, thanks,” Ben said still looking confused.

Fairy Godmother looked at each of them then cleared her voice. “Prince Ben and Princess Audrey will be showing you around but I'll see you all later for classes.” Another light threat there and the woman turned over the top once more as she spoke of the doors of knowledge being open before them before leaving the eight teenagers alone. Uma was in some shock if only over how exerburent she seemed though the young woman suspected, as did her friends, part of it was just to get away from them.

She shook her head and turned her attention back to Ben and Audrey; the latter was looking again at him with such love it seemed obvious there was something going on there but Ben's gaze was on the Isle kids instead. He smiled. “This really is a momentous occasion, allowing for the start of bridging between our people finally.”

Our people? Uma was tempted to gag and Harry snickered, turning to Carlos and Gil; Evie frowned a little and Jay raised an eyebrow, arms crossed over his chest with less than an impressed look on his face.

“Or it's the day that you showed a bunch of kids where the bathrooms are,” Uma retorted and there was some laughter from her fellow villain kids, making her smirk.

Ben didn't seem bothered, laughing some himself. “Right, or that...too pompous?”

His question took her back some and she couldn't help an honest answer. “Just a bit but we can chalk that up to nerves.”

“Thanks,” he said and smiled back at her, making her smile a little herself; he certainly seemed sincere and honest enough, a strange thing from the son of the man who had imprisoned their parents and who was the ultimate cause of a lot of the bad things the Isle kids had to deal with through their lives. Uma was bothered by how much she found she wanted to like this boy even knowing that he was the son of King Beast.

Audrey looked from Ben to Uma and frowned before stepping in between them, her smile twitching with some annoyance. “Perhaps we should get going on the tour then? My boyfriend and I will take you to the dorms first so you can see your rooms.”

Uma raised an eyebrow at the girl and Evie stepped forward, grabbing onto Uma's arm with a bright smile. “That would be wonderful, thank you.”

“We get our own rooms?” Carlos asked moving into position with his friends, joined by Harry and Gil quickly enough until the Wharf Rats returned to their usual en masse sort of positioning, with Uma in the front with the taller boys behind her and Evie and Carlos on either side of her. The only difference was Jay who took up a spot beside Carlos, hands in his pockets as he stood with the enemies of his “friend” back on the Isle.

“Well you'll have roommates,” Audrey said.

“Fine by me, long as the street rat's nae me roomie,” Harry chimed in and Jay glared over at him.

“Will I be rooming with Uma?” Evie asked with some expection, squeezing her best friend's arm lightly.

“Of course; all of you will be in pairs in your rooms.” There was an unspoken thing there but Uma didn't care; she would have likely thrown out Evie's would-be roommate anyway if she hadn't been allowed to be with the other blue haired witch. No one was going to be separating them, not on her watch at least.

“We get rooms,” Gil said absently as Ben started towards the school building, leading them all past the statue of his father by the doors, a statue that Uma noticed change, from beast to man, slowly and deliberately. Magic, more magic, but more than that her mind was stuck that perhaps it should just stay one. She didn't notice the beast form stay for a few seconds too long, just enough to make the students outside stare with some discomfort.

What she did notice was the light chuckle and the sea witch's gaze turned upwards and her eyes meet with a pair of emerald eyes, staring from the shadows, and a little-too-wide grin of white teeth. There was a flick of what seemed to be a tail in the darkness and then it was gone, just as she blinked. Uma got a shiver and she returned her attention to the others, back to their tour. Back to this strange new world for them, but at the very least, they were together, her and her friends, and yes, even Jay.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Sooooo this took a few hours mostly because I had to use a terribly filmed video on Youtube to remind myself how the arrival in Auradon went XD I REALLY mainly wanted the Audrey scene where she told Evie she's not a princess; I figured in this version Uma and Evie's other friends would so not be behind the way Audrey said it XD  
> I do hope this was good though; I did try hard and I really wanted to make sure I didn't do a bad job while getting this done >w< I love all the comments I've gotten thusfar and am so pleased to hear how much you all have been enjoying my little story. I promise there will be more in time and I hope you keep reading and supporting my AU of what if~ Until the next chapter though, bye-bi!~)


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